The Idol's season finale saw Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) declare her undying love for Tedros (The Weeknd) – who apparently can also be easily mistaken for "Tetris or Super Mario Brothers" – after she had seemingly escaped his sex cult.
The five-episode run of the highly contentious show ends on stage in front of the Jocelyn fanbase – Jocelarmy? Jocelynators? – as she launches her mighty comeback, armed with an album of Halsey cast-offs.
Her handlers, PR people and studio executives in the audience look on apoplectic as Jocelyn brings a dishevelled and denounced Tedros out from the wings and hails him as her muse.
While somewhat inexplicable and unearned, the finale reveals that Jocelyn has been using Tedros all along as opposed to vice versa, giving viewers a twist that leaves the door of The Weeknd's real-life Bel-Air mansion slightly ajar for a second outing of the show.
Will The Idol be back for season 2?
Taking the prestigious mantle of the HBO Sunday night slot from Succession, The Idol promised to tell "the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood" directly from the "sick and twisted minds" of Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye and Sam Levinson.
After the first two episodes of its brief run were shown to audiences at Cannes Film Festival, Euphoria creator Levinson hailed the largely negative buzz as evidence they were sitting on "the show of the summer".
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Yet partway through the show's weekly release schedule, reports emerged that The Idol had already been axed for a second season – something HBO felt compelled to deny publicly.
The network's Twitter shared: "It is being misreported that a decision on a second season of The Idol has been determined. It has not, and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you Sunday night."
Reports then turned to a change in The Idol's length. Ahead of the finale, it was confirmed to be a five-episode season, as opposed to the previously reported six, leading to speculation which was linked, by some, to the backlash the show received.
However, that was put to bed by the understanding that the show's length had actually come about as a result of the changes in the creative direction of the team, when Amy Seimetz dropped out of directing the production, having already shot most of the series.
Some insight into a possible second season has been provided by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who plays Jocelyn's well-dressed, quick-witted manager, who gloriously floats the idea of killing Tedros at one point, but also bizarrely entertains a week of the sex cult's company while hyping up the feeble music they're making.
Randolph told Vulture the show was "intentionally" left open-ended to have the option of a second season on the table.
She said: "I see season one as setting up the world in great detail and character development, to set up a season two where it’s like, now we’re really going to get in the s**t.
"When you finish a project, it’s always like, 'Is there a possibility for season two?' And they're always like, 'Yeah, for sure!' It's everyone's desire and intention to do a season two, and until we hear differently, that's the plan.
"But I know it hasn't been officially announced. But definitely, when we ended, from what I know, HBO has been very pleased and into it and there hasn't been anything against it yet, to be like, 'No, we're pulling the plug'."
There's no official word yet beyond Randolph's comments. So another question worth asking is: if The Idol season two does happen, does anyone want it?
Online chatter around the show has mainly focused on the multitudinous missed opportunities, abandoned plot points and general mishaps in character development – so there's every possibility that could affect the decision, but it may also not.
One thing is likely: if The Idol does return for a second season, it will bring back the provocation and titillation it's now become famous for. But it would be a welcome change for any second season to also examine the system at work behind its pop star Jocelyn, and better yet if it had something to say about it.
The Idol airs on HBO in the US, and is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.
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Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
