The Idol (2023)

★ 5.4 1 Seasons 307 votes IMDb

Drama

After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn's last tour, she’s determined to claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America. Her passions are reignited by Tedros, a nightclub impresario with a sordid past. Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?

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Cast

The Weeknd as Tedros Age 36 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is noted for his unconventional music production, artistic...

Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn Age 26 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 27 May 1999) is a French-American actress. Born to actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, she began her acting career in film with a minor role in Tusk (2014). She pursued...

Suzanna Son as Chloe Age 30 · Hamilton, Montana, USA Suzanna Son is an American actress primarily known for the roles of Strawberry in the 2021 film Red Rocket and Megan Rogers in the 2025 Netflix film Fear Street: Prom Queen. She has been nominated for...

Troye Sivan as Xander Age 30 · Johannesburg, South Africa Troye Sivan Mellet (born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer, actor and former YouTuber. Sivan portrayed the younger Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and starred as the titular character...

Jane Adams as Nikki Age 61 · Washington, D.C., USA Jane Adams is an American actress. She made her Broadway debut in the original production of I Hate Hamlet in 1991, and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the 1994 revival of A...

Mitch Modes as Mitch

Director Sam Levinson

Cast The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp, Suzanna Son, Troye Sivan, Jane Adams, Mitch Modes, Hank Azaria, Ramsey, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Moses Sumney

Seasons & Episodes

Season 1

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Now playing: Season 1, Episode 1

GenerationofSwine 10/10 Jul 02, 2023

The sex is heterosexual. Depp is an attractive woman that is portrayed as an attractive woman. It opens with a discussion on a nudity rider that is going against the lead character's will coming from an effeminate man that looks Woke AF and a selfie with a, well, a shot.

Furthermore not all the good guys are people of color, not all the bad guys are straight white men and it does a really good job of making the industry look as horrible and scummy as it is.

The fact is, that all of that has been so censored out today that a woman playing an attractive woman as an attractive woman seems... shocking.

But if Depp played an ugly lesbian this entire thing would have been "empowering."

At the end of the day it's exactly the sort of thing that film needs. We need a film, a TV show, that breaks down the self-imposed political censorship. The Idol does just that and I look at it as a positive step in the right direction, we need more media to force it's way through that crap so we can get back to making media that is actually good again.

This isn't exactly Chinatown, but it is a step away from making pure political propaganda and a step towards making films to entertain again. And the more we have crap that pushes back against it, the closer we get to pop culture for the sake of entertainment again.

Let's face reality... It criticizes the music industry, so people are going to hate it. Depp is an attractive woman who gets naked, so people are going to hate it. The Weekend is a man that has heterosexual sex with her, so people are going to hate it. It calls out Hollywood, so people are going to hate it.

People compare it to Showgirls, and that's not accurate, it has a lot more depth than Showgirls, it is satirical of a lot more than Showgirls ever was. It points more fingers.

If Depp played a lesbian, and if it supported and said bright and happy things about the Music and Film industries, people would praise it. Because it doesn't, because it's political and people are obligated to hate on it.

The cold reality is, in 2023, we need to bring edgy back. We need to offend again.