The Weeknd’s HBO Series The Idol in talks to debut at Cannes Film Festival Premiere

The Weeknd’s HBO Series The Idol, which recently made headlines for going through costly reshoots and alleged toxicity on set, is reportedly in talks to debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

According to Variety, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye has previously attended the Cannes Film Festival and is hopeful the show premieres there, according to one source, but the festival has not yet screened the drama. HBO is not commenting at this time.

While HBO has released a handful of teasers for The Idol, a premiere date is yet to be announced for the music industry drama which is eyeing 2023 release. However, it seems uncertain as the show saw itself embroiled in multiple controversies following a Rolling Stone report published earlier this month.

The music outlet reported that the Sam Levinson-led series underwent multiple “costly” reshoots and has “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails.” Some sources even claimed that the show’s new narrative is “disturbing” and that many scenes include intense violence against women.

However, Variety reports, citing sources, that the series still represents a “female perspective,” with Lily-Rose Depp as the lead. Following Rolling Stone’s piece, The Weeknd responded with a clip from the series posted on his social handles. The clip features his and Depp’s pop star character rejecting an offer to feature on Rolling Stone.

“Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a little irrelevant?” Tesfaye’s character says. “Rolling Stone has 6 million followers on Instagram, half of them probably bots. And Jocelyn has 78 million followers, all real I’d assume. So, she does a photo shoot, she tags them, they get her followers. More money for Rolling Stone, nothing for Jocelyn.”