The series focuses on female pop idol Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) and her complex relationship with Tedros (Tesfaye), a sleazy nightclub owner, self-help guru, and cult leader.

The Idol underwent significant creative changes during filming, with Levinson taking over directing duties from original director Amy Seimetz and reshaping the series to align with a new vision.

[3] On June 29, 2021, Tesfaye announced that he would be creating, executive producing, and co-writing a drama series for HBO alongside Reza Fahim and Sam Levinson.

Mary Laws was also announced as a writer and a co-executive producer, alongside Tesfaye's co-manager Wassim Slaiby and his creative director La Mar Taylor.

[16] On January 14, 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that Nick Hall had joined the production as an executive producer, following his move to A24 to oversee creative for the company's television slate.

[19][20] On November 22, Suzanna Son, Steve Zissis, and Troye Sivan joined the main cast, while Melanie Liburd, Tunde Adebimpe, Elizabeth Berkley, Nico Hiraga, and Anne Heche were announced as recurring characters.

[29] Production was temporarily paused in April 2022 due to Tesfaye co-headlining the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with Swedish House Mafia on short notice.

[27] According to IndieWire and other sources, Tesfaye wanted to tone down the "cult" aspect of the story,[27][33] and felt concerned that Seimetz's initial work on the show "lean[ed] too much into a female perspective.

The site's consensus reads: "Every bit as florid and sleazy as the industry it seeks to satirize, The Idol places itself on a pedestal with unbridled style but wilts under the spotlight.

[50][57] David Fear of Rolling Stone slammed the first two episodes as "nasty, brutish, much longer than it is, and way, way worse than you'd have anticipated", lamenting that the series "has mistaken misery for profundity, stock perversity for envelope-pushing, crude caricatures for sharp satire, toxicity for complexity, nipple shots for screen presence".

"[59] In his review of the first two episodes for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson described The Idol as "a tawdry tale of sex gone scary, dressed up in the visual vernacular of TV's wunderkind du jour" that "offers up enough regular old entertainment to balance out his aggressive flourish and the bluster of [Levinson's] thematic ambitions".

[61] Writing for Vogue, Douglas Greenwood deemed it "a gorgeous-looking horror show" and "buzzy, brazen television that will do exactly what it set out to do: get people talking".

"[67] The New York Times's James Poniewozik wrote that Tesfaye's performance was "flat, except when he overcorrects into outbursts" and called Depp "a watchable screen presence" while criticizing her singing ability.