In today’s edition of ‘How will The Idol continue to self implode?’, we’ve now copped a bunch of rumours that season two of the controversial show has already been axed due to mass backlash.
To be clear, at the time of writing, we’ve only seen two (I repeat, TWO) episodes of The Idol – and those two episodes are apparently enough for big ol’ execs to say “nah, yeah nah” to the idea of another season. Hooooo boy.
But honestly, the whole thing is a little complicated and a bit of a shitfight — which is honestly EXACTLY what we expect with this show.
Here are all the rumours on The Idol Season Two, including whether it’ll be renewed or if it really is cancelled.
Will there be a season two of The Idol?
On June 15th, a wild report from Page Six seemed to hint that the show’s second season wouldn’t be going ahead amidst the show’s hefty backlash.
“This was never meant to be a long-running show, it was always … a limited series,” a source told Page Six.
Page Six‘s source also ripped into Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye, saying that working with him was “not an ideal experience… and not one [he is] eager to repeat.”
The tea? It’s piping hot and is being thrown directly is Tesfaye’s face. Damn.
But while Page Six have hinted that it could be a one and done type scenario, they also had sources at HBO tell them that the decision about season two hasn’t been made yet.
“The door is definitely still open it’s definitely not a decision [yet],” the HBO source told them.
“At this point, this is normal in our process … we’re only two episodes in.”
The source also emphasised that HBO knew of the shit fight that would likely occur in the wake of The Idol, stating that they “know what you’re getting with a Sam Levinson show.”
ICYMI: Levinson is also the creator of Euphoria — a show that’s copped plenty of raised eyebrows in the past.
But HBO has now denied the report from Page Six which claimed there won’t be a second season.
“It is being misreported that a decision on a second season of The Idol has been determined,” their statement read. “It has not, and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you Sunday night.”
Honestly, we knew The Idol would be controversial, but the shit flurry that’s surrounded this show is honestly so chaotic, we’re LIVING.
At the time of writing, the show has a measly 26% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is… very bad. So it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if it got cut based on audience reception.
That said, the premiere of the show exceeded the numbers for both The White Lotus and Euphoria, so it’s got that going for it, I guess.
Why is The Idol so controversial?
Well, where do we start?
The most recent controversy to hit the show was during episode two, where audiences had to ordeal an icky ten-minute sex scene where Tesfaye’s character Tedros told Lily Rose-Depp’s character Jocelyn that he wanted to “Fucking stretch that tiny little [REDACTED]”.
Tesfaye now claims that we’re *meant* to feel really disgusting while we watch him on screen, which in that case, you fkn nailed it, mate!
However, many have hypothesised that Tesfaye is now in PR damage control and is merely trying to stop the show from getting cancelled by saying “Yeah, actually, that’s exactly the kinda reaction I was hoping audiences would have. Trust me, bro.”
But even before audiences set their eyes on the actual content of the show, there were multiple reports of the questionable environment on the show with Rolling Stone likening the whole thing to “torture porn”. They also claimed the show had a “toxic set environment and creative clashes”, with sources claiming production went “wildly, disgustingly off the rails.”
Then, of course, you’ve got the departure of the original director, Amy Seimetz. In an interview with Deadline in April 2022, Tesfaye felt that the show was “leaning too much into a female perspective rather than his own.”
Yes, because god forbid a woman tells a story about another woman. We couldn’t possibly understand!
I’m sure there will be more controversy as the show rolls on — after all, we’re only on episode two! Yippee!!!!
