After tons of speculation and release date suspense, The Idol—the newest show from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson—officially hit our screens on June 4, 2023. Co-created and starred by Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye alongside Lily-Rose Depp, Dan Levy, Hari Nef, Troye Sivan, and BLACKPINK's Jennie, The Idol had M-A-J-O-R star power behind it.
But the season finale (which, similar to the show in general, caused controversy in its own way after it premiered sooner than expected) has long since come and gone, leaving fans of The Idol asking questions like, "When is season 2 coming out, if at all?" Enter: us. Let’s get into it.
First of all, is The Idol actually getting a season 2?
If you consider yourself one of Jocelyn's "angels," we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but an HBO rep revealed to Page Six that The Idol will *not* be returning for a second season after all.
"The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response," HBO's rep told the outlet. "After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season. We're grateful to the creators, cast, and crew for their incredible work."
They added, "Boundary-pushing content is what audiences look for in HBO original programming, and The Idol certainly delivered on that front. [It] was one of the most talked-about shows of the summer and cemented itself in the zeitgeist."
But that wasn't enough for the contentious show to be green-lit for a second season. The Idol was originally billed as a limited series, meaning there probably weren't editorial plans for the story to continue on past season 1’s five episodes. Another factor (and perhaps least promising) that determined whether the show would be returning is that it got some, er, not-so-great reviews. It’s plausible HBO waited to see what audiences made of it (and whether enough people tuned in to watch) before deciding on a season 2.
Right now, The Idol has a lowly 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and a lot of reviews have made comments about the show trying really hard to be shocking. One such musing in Rolling Stone called it "way, way worse than you’d have anticipated," while another in Vogue questioned whether it was "a misfire of high-budget misogyny." Major yikes.
When would The Idol season 2 have come out?
If season 2 had been green-lit, we put our math skills to the test to guesstimate when it would have theoretically hit our screens.
Season 1 started filming way back in November 2021 but dealt with a few disruptions—The Weeknd had to leave to go headline Coachella and start his After Hours Til Dawn Tour, and director/executive producer Amy Seimetz left the project due to creative differences—, which led to rewrites and reshoots.
In total, it took more than a year and a half from production start to when the first episode aired. Assuming the cast and crew would have begun production on season 2 shortly after season 1 aired, and it followed a similar timeline, we would have likely been looking at a theoretical end of 2024/beginning of 2025 release date. The more you know!
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