The Weeknd and Sam Levinson’s ‘The Idol’ Confirmed for Cannes Film Festival Debut

After much speculation, it’s now been confirmed—The Idol will make its global debut as part of next month’s Cannes Film Festival.

The project is led by The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp, with the story focusing on a cult leader’s relationship with a rising pop star. In November 2021, HBO announced it had ordered The Idol—co-created by The Weeknd, Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, and Reza Fahim—to series.

While it was initially also announced that Amy Seimetz would be directing all episodes, she was later revealed in a Deadline report to have exited the project as part of what the publication described at the time as “a major creative overhaul.”

During a press conference announcing the full Cannes slate on Thursday, as seen below, Cannes General Delegate Thierry Frémaux referred to Abel Tesfaye as “a great moviemaker” when confirming that The Idol would debut out of competition at this year’s festival.

In an interview last month, Frémaux was asked about what were then mere rumors of the project’s Cannes premiere. At the time, Frémaux said he had “only seen one episode” of the series. “It seemed promising,” he said. The General Delegate also pointed to the limited nature of screening projects in the series format as part of the festival, highlighting past examples of this by David Lynch and others.

The 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival starts May 16 and runs through May 27. Others confirmed to debuting new projects at this year’s festival include Martin Scorsese, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Pedro Pascal, Wes Anderson, and more.