Trivia / The Idol

• Ascended Creator: In addition to playing Tedros, Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye also co-created the show with Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim.
• Deleted Role: As a result of the creative overhaul, several actors who had roles in the original version of the show were cut from the final version — Steve Zissis, Juliebeth Gonzalez, Anne Heche (in what would've been her final television role as she had shot her scenes prior to her death in August 2022) and Elizabeth Berkley.
• Troubled Production: And how. Development began in June 2021 with Alien: Covenant actress Amy Seimetz serving as director before leaving around a year later due to scheduling conflicts and alleged Creative Differences, with sources claiming that this was largely due to Tesfaye feeling that her vision "lean[ed] too much into a female perspective." This resulted in the show being reworked and reshot under Levinson as well as the episode order being reduced from six to five. This meant the scrapping of significant amounts of material that was already shot and completed as the show was almost done, to the tune of about $70 million.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Seimetz's version of the show reportedly characterized Jocelyn as a starlet falling victim to Tedros, who would've been a predatory industry figure, and fighting to reclaim her own agency. 80% of her version is believed to have been shot before Levinson took over as director, it reportedly contained various actors that do not appear in the final version, and alleged set photos made their way online that many interpreted as evidence that her version would've highlighted Jocelyn's history as a pop star more.
  • The show was going to have a full soundtrack album titled The Idol Vol. 1 with "Double Fantasy" and "Popular" serving as joint lead singles, but it was scrapped in favour of a series of EPs.