Sam Levinson has reportedly turned HBO's The Idol into a "rape fantasy"
Sam Levinon's next project, The Idol, appears to be the epitome of what it claims to detest, according to an explosive report from Rolling Stone

Well, somewhat unsurprisingly, Sam Levinson’s next HBO series has devolved in “shitshow” featuring “torture porn” and copious amounts of female objectification. In a new report from Rolling Stone, The Idol, which was originally pitched as a gritty drama satirizing Hollywood exploitation and cultism, has apparently gone on to embody the exact kind of culture it initially pit itself against under the care of the Euphoria creator.
Interviews from 13 cast and crew members paint a story of financial carelessness, chaos on set, and creepy male behavior plaguing the production. The show, starring Lily-Rose Depp, Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, Dan Levy, Hari Nef, Troye Sivan, Rachel Sennott, Hank Azaria, and K-pop star Jennie Kim, seems to have even more problems than originally thought, costing HBO millions in the process.
Issues emerged early on the set of The Idol, as many felt director Amy Seimetz was set up to fail as she was given half-finished scripts, a tight filming schedule, and Euphoria-level expectations fit with music videos, expensive mansions, nightclubs, and stadiums.
“Amy was doing her best in an impossible situation, but she was going to lose this no matter what,” one production member says. “Honestly, I think HBO handed her a shit stack.”
Still, Seimetz worked with what she was given, completing 80 percent of the first season. However, in April of 2022, it was announced that Seimetz would leave the project, and Levinson would take over, starting from scratch.
“I went into The Idol thinking that this might be an interesting collaboration, but I left it pretty convinced that [Levinson] is not quite collaborative,” one source says. “It’s really frustrating seeing Amy doing her damn best to turn around some kind of product that she can be somewhat proud of to HBO… and then [for HBO] to turn around and have Sam get essentially a blank check to turn it into ‘Euphoria Season Three with pop stars’ is extremely, extremely frustrating.”
Reports on Seimetz’s departure illuminate a rather unsavory side of The Weeknd. Tesfaye, who’s attached to The Idol as its star, co-creator, and “co-writer,” reportedly felt the show leaned too much into the “female perspective,” and thought Seimetz was focusing too much on Depp’s character. Once Seimetz left the show, Levinson apparently had no problem tossing out its “feminist lens” and giving Tesfaye all the screen time he desired.
“It was like the Weeknd wanted one show that was all about him—Sam was on board with that,” a source tells Rolling Stone.
Once Levinson assumed complete control over the project, cast and crew members say the shooting schedule and script process never got any smoother. Production schedules and budgets ballooned, with most of the cast and crew left in the dark on day-to-day operations. Daily script revisions and reshoots made room for Levinson to “dramatically [ramp] up the explicit content.” Allegedly, scripts stopped going upstairs to HBO and department heads for approval.