‘The Idol’ series co-creator Sam Levinson has revealed how The Weeknd who debuted his acting career in this series, got to play the role.
The co-creator of The Idol shared details on how he persuaded ‘The Weeknd’ to take on the role of Tedros, the unsettling cult leader. “We are in Abel’s house and talking it through, imagining the character Tedros in the series.”
“And I would say, ‘Imagine you have all of the dreams that you have of what you want to do in life, in terms of music, and your career, all of the aspirations — but imagine you have none of the talent. That’s who this character is.'” Previously, the Blinding Lights hitmaker also painted a similar picture of the character.
Read more: The Weeknd to drop new music for ‘The Idol’ with every latest episode
“There’s nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him,” he said. “We did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy’s a douchebag. You can tell he cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good,” he added.
“But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing, he’s pathetic,” he maintained. The new HBO drama series has been co-created and co-led by Abel Tesfaye aka ‘The Weeknd’.
Apart from him, the series also features Lily Rose-Depp, South Korean singer Jennie Ruby Jane, Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, and Moses Sumney.
The Weeknd has been releasing songs from The Idol soundtrack over the past few months — including ‘Popular’, a collaboration with Madonna and Playboi Carti, and ‘Double Fantasy’, a Future duet that peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
To date, The Weeknd has earned seven chart-toppers on the Hot 100, and he has sent four titles to the summit of the Billboard 200.
