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Despite a well-known cast (The Weekend among others), an expensive production (the total budget is unknown but it is more than 75 million dollars) and to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in style, the "New Ephoria" remained in a particularly controversial attempt. Although it debuted in June, "The Idol" failed to gain public and critical acclaim, receiving a painful 19% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a paltry audience that failed to compare to previous HBO originals (it premiered to 913,000 viewers in the United States and a week later fell to 800,000 and later stopped publishing the figures). Therefore, and as a final decision (which has remained until the last moment on the air) HBO has decided to cancel it.

"The Idol was one of HBO's most provocative original shows and we are pleased with the strong response from the audience. After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers, have decided not to move forward with a second season. We are grateful to the creators, cast and crew for their incredible work."

This decision should come as no surprise from what has been HBO's most controversial series in recent times by far. The sordid erotic drama set in the bowels of the music industry and starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), also its creator and screenwriter along with Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim, has been a headline-making machine since news of its turbulent shoot came out.

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The most anticipated series of the new season

  • Writing: JORGE LOSER Madrid

The most anticipated series of the new season

The definitive confirmation of the cancellation of "The Idol" comes less than two months after the airing of the final episode of its first and only season. Weeks ago that had begun to shuffle the final conclusion of the series with a leak that HBO even went so far as to officially deny. In the end, not at all since the final result has been the same.

With one episode less than initially planned, the perverse story of love and domination between pop star Jocelyn (Depp) and music guru Tedros (Tesfaye), which explained the murkier aspects of the entertainment industry and the manufacture of fame, has concluded its checkered journey after a spectacular debut at the Cannes Film Festival.

Long before the premiere at the festival, "The Idol" was already a topic of conversation due to the departure of director Amy Seimetz, who had been in charge of the realization of much of the series and left the project due to creative differences. It was when Levinson, until then only producer, took the reins behind the cameras, and according to sources of the team it was necessary to practically redo all the footage already recorded until the story acquired its final form.

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