‘All of the dreams, none of the talent’: ‘The Idol’ creator has a reasonable explanation for The Weeknd’s loser character

Episode 3 of The Idol is here, and this time we see a fresh new manipulative side of Tedros.

Played by Abel Tesfaye – popularly known as The Weeknd – and portrayed as abusive and controlling, Tedros’ involvement in Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) life sent her on another self-destructive path, marking one of the pop world’s harsh realities.

While The Weeknd’s appearance baffled many, creator Sam Levinson – in a recent interview with Variety – opened up about the reason for creating the character, saying that it was intentional to emphasize Tedros’ unappealing nature which suited his involvement in the story.

“There’s nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him. And we did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy’s a douchebag. You can tell he cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good. But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing, he’s pathetic.”

Tedros was supposed to represent a personality, who in addition to being calculative also lacks talent and is narcissistic about his looks. This is how Levinson explained it to The Weeknd after approaching him to play the role.

“We’re in Abel’s house, we’re talking it through, imagining the character Tedros. And I would say, ‘Imagine you have all of the dreams that you have of what you want to do in life, in terms of music, and your career, all of the aspirations — but imagine you have none of the talent. That’s who this character is.”

Anyone who watched the episode will agree that not a single attempt was made to glorify Tedros. The showrunners didn’t craft the character to make you root for him. Rather, the controversial and violent moments were meticulously designed to evoke disgust and aversion among the viewers.

The new episode introduced viewers to a darker side of the pop world, where Jocelyn starts to restructure her life after her meltdown in the previous installment. This very vulnerability makes Tedros even more significant, as the presence of a violent male in her life is another recurring downside of the music industry as history has shown.

The Idol is streaming on HBO.