According to the creator and star of “The Idol,” the Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) face-off was part of the planning long before Sunday night’s finale.
“Jocqueline is a very strategic and calculating person. She knows exactly what she wants, and she’ll stop at nothing to get it,” Depp said in an interview. hbo video Breaking Episode 5.
Depp knows that “The Idol” viewers spent much of the series believing that Tedros (Abel “The Weekend” Tesfaye) was taking advantage of Jocelyn. But it’s only after Jocelyn takes credit for the singers Tedros discovered, kicks him out of his house, and publicly ruins him, that the truth comes out: she’s been using him this whole time.
Tedros realized the truth when he saw that Jocelyn had claimed that the brush her mother used to beat her was brand new. Depp said, “In the end we realized that Tedros was her inspiration and she got what she needed from him.”
The series’ creator, director and executive producer described Tedros as “a kind of medium” for Jocelyn’s creativity as she searches for her next song and next album.
Levinson said, “He needs to make the people around him feel like he has something to say.”
Capturing this finale was an enormous effort for the production. “Jocelyn Forever” ended with its lead star on tour, a scene that required Depp and Tesfaye to film in front of a live audience of 70,000 people. Due to the scope and cost of the scene, Depp only had two takes to deliver Jocelyn’s final speech correctly.
From Levinson, Tesfaye and Reza Faheem, the HBO Sunday drama follows a pop star who loses her dignity after suffering a mental breakdown. Desperate to fight her way back to the top, she allies herself with a self-help guru and cult leader. The series has been plagued by massive creative changes, expensive reshoots, and accusations of being “hostile to feminism”.
All the episodes of “The Idol” are now streaming on Max.
