Spoiler alert: The following accommodates particulars of The Idol finale.
From the beginning, there was so much to speak about in relation to HBO’s buzzy collection The Idol, which was co-created by and co-stars Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye. The drama adopted a pop star, Jocelyn (performed by Lily-Rose Depp), who’s recovering from a nervous breakdown when she meets Tesfaye’s Tedros, a secret cult chief.
No shock that the surprising activate Sunday’s finale left a lot to be mentioned, along with the subjects that had already surfaced, about all the things from the controversy to the forged. Here’s a have a look at not only one however a number of burning questions surrounding the HBO collection:
How did the season finish? What was the large twist?
In the ultimate episode of the show, viewers realized that Jocelyn, whom we thought was being managed by Tedros, was, actually, manipulating him. We watched as Jocelyn booted Tedros out of her life, calling him out as a “con man and a fraud.” Her supervisor even supplied him $500,000 to go, and a information reporter wrote a distinguished story about his background as a pimp. The show then jumped forward six weeks, and picked again up with a publicly shamed Tedros, who’s now coping with monetary points due to the detrimental media consideration, attending the opening evening of Jocelyn’s newest tour.
There, Tedros realized that Jocelyn had been mendacity to him about her background and utilizing him for her personal functions the complete time. He’d by no means actually been the one in management. She brings him onstage, the place she kisses him passionately and declares him the “love of my life.” “You’re mine forever,” she then advised him. “Now go stand over there.”
Depp defined in a behind-the-scenes clip on the making of the episode that Jocelyn, the supposed sufferer of manipulation, is “a very calculated and strategic person” who “knows what she wants and she’s going to stop at nothing to get it.”
Depp added, “What we realize at the end is that Tedros is her muse and that she got what she needed out of him.”
Will there be a Season 2?
It’s unclear whether or not there might be further episodes of The Idol. What we do know is that on June 15, HBO refuted a report that the drama would not see a Season 2, noting {that a} determination had not been made on that entrance.
At the identical time, co-creator and showrunner Sam Levinson wound up making 5 episodes as a substitute of the six that had been deliberate below The Idol‘s earlier management. A supply near the manufacturing advised Decider that that is all Levinson wanted to “capture his vision.” This doesn’t bode properly.
For what it is value, HBO referred to the episode because the season finale.
What was all of the controversy about once more?
Yahoo readers had requested from the show’s earliest days concerning the scandal that shadowed it even earlier than it debuted on June 4.
For starters, The Idol‘s authentic, feminine director and an actress departed the collection early on, reportedly as a result of Tesfaye thought the show was “leaning too much into the female perspective; He denied this is the reason. Additionally, in March, Rolling Stone published a report in which 13 unnamed members of the cast and crew said the second version of the series had “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails” and had become “sexual torture porn.” One crew member said The Idol had gone from a story of a woman falling prey to a toxic figure in the industry and fighting to “like several rape fantasy that any poisonous man would have within the show — after which the lady comes again as a result of it makes her music higher.” There was a lot more.
The network defended the show. “The creators and producers of The Idol have been working exhausting to create certainly one of HBO’s most fun and provocative authentic applications,” officials told Yahoo. “The preliminary strategy on the show and manufacturing of the early episodes, sadly, didn’t meet HBO requirements so we selected to make a change. Throughout the method, the artistic staff has been dedicated to making a secure, collaborative, and mutually respectful working setting, and final yr, the staff made artistic modifications they felt have been in the very best curiosity of each the manufacturing and the forged and crew. We look ahead to sharing The Idol with audiences quickly.”
Despite all this backstage drama, HBO said, per Variety, that 913,000 people tuned into see Kim and the rest of the cast in the premiere of the first of the season’s five episodes. Those numbers fell by 12 percent for the second ep. By comparison, another show from Sam Levinson, one of Tesfaye’s co-creators, Euphoria, premiered to an audience of 1.2 million on HBO in 2019. At the same time, according to NPR, the final episode of the network’s dark comedy Barry, which aired May 28 of this year, attracted just 700,000 viewers. Of course the numbers went way up in the following days, when people could watch when they wanted. Ratings for the finale aren’t in yet.
Was that Jennie Kim of Blackpink in the cast?
Yes! Kim’s appearance had thousands of Yahoo users asking, “Is that Jennie Kim in The Idol?” It was indeed Kim (who’s also a solo artist known simply as Jennie) as Dyanne, one of Jocelyn’s backup dancers. The confusion about whether it was Jennie on screen might have come because Kim’s credited on The Idol, her acting debut, as Jennie Ruby Jane.
The star noted that her background had been helpful in playing Dyanne, who was burned by Jocelyn in the final episode.
“I did not have a variety of time to be taught the choreography for the dance scenes,” she said in the below behind-the-scenes clip (at about 2:54). “But, fortunately, I do that on a regular basis, so it got here naturally to me.”
Kim has been a member of the K-pop girl group since it began in 2016, when she and the other teenage members were selected to form Blackpink. As part of the phenomenally popular ensemble, that’s shattered records, including becoming the first K-pop girl group to headline Coachella, she’s sold millions of albums and toured the world. Choreography is what she knows.
In 2018, she released her own album, Solo, which did so well that Jennie became a face of Chanel, Calvin Klein and more. The video for the title track quickly became the most viewed by a female Korean artist of all time, and it currently has a staggering 933 million views.
But she continues her work with Blackpink. On June 11, during a show in Melbourne, Australia, she had to leave the stage during one of the shows, after she fell ill. Footage from the concert showed Kim holding onto the side of the stage while appearing to breathe heavily before leaving.
“We remorse to tell you that in the course of the BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK] IN MELBOURNE efficiency on June 11 (right now), member JENNIE was unable to finish the stage as a consequence of her deteriorating situation,” YG Entertainment said in a statement. “JENNIE expressed her robust dedication to hold on with the efficiency till the top. However, following medical recommendation on website, we instantly took measures to make sure she receives ample relaxation and stability.”
By the end of the month, though, it looked like she was feeling better.
What other music stars were part of the show?
The Weeknd:
Of course, there’s Tesfaye. The Canadian singer has been releasing music for more than a decade. In 2013, his debut studio album, Kiss Land, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and it’s been up from there. Over the next few years, songs off his next albums, like “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Die for You,” “Blinding Lights,” “Starboy,” “The Hills” and “Save Your Tears” became radio staples. And No. 1 hits. He’s won 4 Grammys, and he’s been nominated 13 times.
When the New York Times asked the music artist whether he worried about how The Idol would be received at a time when conversations about race, gender and representation are “so fraught,” Tesfaye dismissed the idea.
“When I first began making music, it was the very same factor,” he said. “It was provocative, and I knew it was going to be robust for folks. And lots of people did not prefer it. Not to match it, however I really feel that that is sort of like that once more. This isn’t going to be for everyone, and that is high quality. We’re not politicians.”
Troye Sivan
Like The Weeknd, the Australian singer-actor got his start performing on YouTube more than a decade ago. By 2014, he won a Teen Choice Award for his video for “The Boyfriend Tag.” Now 28, he’s had six songs in the Billboard 200 — 2016’s “Youth” went to No. 23 — stateside and has toured the world. His music career has propelled him to jobs modeling for the likes of Valentino and Calvin Klein, as well as the clothing lines of Rihanna and Beyoncé, plus other acting projects. He’s teased a new single, “Rush,” coming soon.
Sivan, who previously appeared in movies such as Boy Erased and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, plays Xander, Jocelyn’s creative director and close friend.
Moses Sumney
Sumney released his critically acclaimed debut album in 2017, and his songs have been used in TV shows, including HBO’s Insecure, Westworld and Euphoria; Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and Dear White People; and movies like Creed and Venom. He released an album in 2017 (Aromanticism) and a double-album, the well-reviewed Græ, that ended up on many best of the year lists, in 2020.
The following year, he dropped the album Live from Blackalachia, which was accompanied by a concert film.
Sumney, who’s been recognized for his visual work by the SXSW Film Festival, portrays Izaak, one of Tedros’s loyal followers.
Ramsey
LA Weekly predicted in August 2016 that the singer-songwriter/-electronic producer, who was born Rebecca Fisher in the late ’90s, would be a pop star. Her songs had already been listened to millions of times on SoundCloud, less than a year after she began releasing it.
“This has all occurred in a short time,” Ramsey said of her success in that 2016 interview. “It’s bizarre.”
In 2019, her song “Love Surrounds You” was featured in the first season of Euphoria.
Ramsey plays Ramsey on all six episodes of The Idol.
Tyson Ritter
He’s previously appeared in shows such as Parenthood, 90210 and House, and movies including The House Bunny, but Ritter is best known as the lead singer of the All-American Rejects. The band rose to fame in the early aughts, with songs such as “Swing Swing,” “Dirty Little Secret, “Move Along” and “Gives You Hell.” While he is continued to carry out with the hitmakers, they final launched music in 2020.
His as but unnamed character debuts on the June 18 episode.
Mike Dean
Long a composer on music movies for Travis Scott, Kanye West and others, Dean made his appearing debut on The Idol, for which he is additionally credited with engaged on the tunes. He collaborated with the Weeknd on the show’s theme music, “The Lure,” and several other different tracks.
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