The long-awaited and already controversial upcoming HBO series The Idol has finally gotten its release date. The HBO Original series is now set to debut on the network on Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 9:00 PM ET/PT. The series will also be available to stream on Max. This announcement follows the news that the series will officially debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The Idol comes from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. Though the series has yet to make its debut, it is already an extremely controversial project, and Levinson himself is a controversial creative figure. Last year, the series went under a major creative overhaul. One of these changes was the exit of series director Amy Seimetz. The series has also been at the center of several controversies surrounding some of the project’s more explicit content. The series stars the internationally acclaimed musician The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) alongside Lily-Rose Depp.

The series follows the pop star Jocelyn, played by Depp, who is determined to reclaim her title as the sexiest pop star in America following an intense nervous breakdown. When Jocelyn meets Tedros, played by Tesfaye, a nightclub impresario with a checkered past, her passion and creativity are soon reignited. But will this affair take her to new heights, or plunge her back into her own demons? The series will explore the pair’s intense, erotic, and fraught relationship as it pushes both of them to the extremes of their own psyche.

The Idol Will Deliver on Drama and Chaos

Along with the announcement of the series’ release date, a new teaser for the series was also released. The new teaser is the fourth to be released in anticipation of the series’ release. A trailer for the series was also released late last year. The new teaser shows Jocelyn posing in a photo shoot, smoking a cigarette. The question is then posed: “when was the last truly-fucking-nasty, nasty, bad pop girl?” Well, it doesn’t seem to matter when the last one was, because the current nasty pop girl is Jocelyn, who is then shown being trotted in and out of clubs. The iconic, if not ominous Britney Spears song “Gimme More” plays throughout the trailer. The song, which was released by Spear in the midst of her 2007 public breakdown, sets the tone for the trailer, showing Jocelyn in the midst of her own spiral.

The series comes from Sam Levinson, the creator of the hit HBO series Euphoria. The Idol is a departure from the high-school-based series but features the same gritty and beautiful cinematography. The Idol, however, plunges further into the more lurid themes of Levinson‘s oeuvre, which includes the 2022 Ben Affleck-led erotic thriller Deep Water, which he co-wrote with Zach Helm. Along with Depp and Tesfaye, the series also stars Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Jane Adams, Jennie Ruby Jane, Mike Dean, Moses Sumney, Rachel Sennott, Ramsey, Suzanna Son, and Hank Azaria.

Tesfaye and Levinson both serve as creators on the series along with Reza Fahim. The series is being produced in partnership with A24. The Idol will premiere on HBO on Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 9:00 PM ET/PT. You can watch the new teaser below.

via Collider