‘The Idol’ co-creator reveals how he got The Weeknd to play cult leader Tedros

The Idol co-creator Sam Levinson recently spilled the beans on how he convinced Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye to play the role of the creepy cult leader Tedros.

“We’re in Abel’s house, we’re talking it through, imagining the character Tedros,” Levinson revealed, in the series’ “Crafting the Family” featurette on Max. 

“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.'”

Previously, Tesfaye also painted a similar picture of the character.

“There’s nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him,” he said. “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.”

In the Max featurette, Levinson also spoke about how Lily-Rose Depp’s troubled singer Jocelyn could be manipulated by both the music industry and Tedros.

In the Max featurette, Levinson also described the struggling character of singer Jocelyn played by Lily-Rose Depp.

“Think of a pop star like a prized horse,” Levinson said. “Everyone wants to keep her on track. They don’t want to derail her because she’s gotta perform. The entire world is an illusion.”