After significant speculation about its future, has officially been cancelled.
Created by ’s Sam Levinson and starring Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp, the HBO series was one of the most anticipated shows of this year, but was, being slammed by both critics and fans alike, with some even going so far as to call it ‘torture porn’.
It also , leading many to question whether the series would be getting an encore.
It’s now been officially confirmed that the show has been cancelled after just one season.
‘The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response,’ an HBO spokesperson said.
‘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 in the statement to .
While there had been ongoing conversations about a potential second season, it’s been reported there were plans for multi-season arcs but no decisions were made until very recently.
According to HBO, The Idol ranked among Max’s top summer series’, with the premiere getting over seven million viewers.
Premiering in June, The Idol followed troubled pop star Jocelyn (Depp) and her complicated relationship with cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye).
Before it even aired, an expose in Rolling Stone detailed claims that the production had become a ‘s*** show’.
Trouble first began when director Amy Seimetz exited the show after several of the six episodes had already been completed, and reports detailed how when Levinson took over as director, he ‘scrapped the nearly-finished $54-75 million project to rewrite and reshoot the entire thing’.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who played Jocelyn’s manager Destiny, previously claimed in an interview that the network was so pleased with the series that there had been .
‘I think that everyone’s intention is to have a second season,’ she told Variety.
‘This was never intended to be a limited series. HBO has been very happy with it — so much so that there were rumours that we were cancelled, and then HBO went on Twitter [to dispute the rumours], which I think they rarely do. Nothing is official, but HBO is quite happy.’
When asked about Randolph’s comments, an HBO spokesperson told EW the network had ‘nothing to add’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted HBO for comment.
The Idol is streaming on NOW and Sky Atlantic.
