The Idol cast: All actors & characters
HBO MaxThe Idol follows an aspiring pop-star (Lily-Rose Depp) who gets drawn in by a seedy club owner (The Weeknd).
Now that all five episodes of HBO Max’s The Idol are available to stream, here’s a guide to all of the cast and characters in this series.
Sex, drugs, pop music, and mental health – much like Euphoria, these are the themes you can expect to see in The Idol, a show which has fast become one of the most talked-about projects of 2023 so far due to its provocative nature. You can read more about the off-screen controversy here.
The series delves into a familiar struggle we know pop stars have dealt with before, one in which exploitation is rife and being human has to be brushed to the side when so much money is on the line.
Ahead of the fourth episode, we’ve broken down all of the major roles in the cast of The Idol including the actors and the characters they play.
Contents
- Jocelyn: Lily-Rose Depp
- Tedros: Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye
- Leia: Rachel Sennott
- Dyanne: Jennie Ruby Jane
- Chaim: Hank Azaria
- Destiny: Da’Vine Joy Randolph
- Nikki: Jane Adams
- Xander: Troye Sivan
- Andrew: Eli Roth
- Izaak: Moses Sumney
- Chloe: Suzanna Son
- Talia: Hari Nef
- Benjamin: Dan Levy
- Rob: Karl Glusman
The Idol cast and characters
Before we get into it, here’s the official synopsis for The Idol: “After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn’s last tour, she’s determined to claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America.
“Her passions are reignited by Tedros, a nightclub impresario with a sordid past. Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?”
Jocelyn: Lily-Rose Depp
HBOLily-Rose Depp plays Jocelyn, the lead character and a pop star who is back after her mother died, which may or may not have led to her experiencing a “nervous breakdown” which derailed her last tour.
The Idol kicks off with her working towards her comeback, whether she likes it or not, as everyone around her seems more focused on making money than ensuring her wellbeing. But will things stay on track when she strikes up a relationship with a shadowy nightclub owner?
Depp, who grew up in the limelight herself thanks to her celebrity parents Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, previously told The New York Times that her “childhood looks nothing like Jocelyn’s,” as the character “has been working from a young age” and “had a mother who was pushing her.”
Depp added: “My childhood was never going to be ‘normal,’ but they gave us the best sense of normalcy that we could have.” This isn’t the star’s first foray into acting, having previously appeared in The King, Tusk, and The Dancer.
Tedros: Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye
HBOAbel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, plays Tedros, a “nightclub impresario with a sordid past.” After striking up a relationship with Jocelyn, we discover more about the motives of this central character, who is less the self-help guru he claims to be and more of a cult leader, one who becomes yet another person who’s set to manipulate Jocelyn for personal gain.
However, in one of the biggest twist of them all, it turns out Tedros’ real name is Mauricio Costello Jackson and Jocelyn was in control of their relationship the entire time as she ends up usurping his cult and reviving her career.
As well as starring in The Idol, The Weeknd, a pop star himself, co-created the show alongside Levinson and Reza Fahim. Speaking about the character in the same interview with the NYT, Tesfaye said: “I never wrote Tedros for myself; it was Sam who planted the idea. I just focused on being Tedros and living as the character and spending all my time with Sam and listening and allowing him to just be my teacher.
“Tedros is such a dark, complicated, scary, pathetic human – I had to just distance myself from who I am. And it’s scary, you know, it’s a big risk.” Alongside his huge career as a singer, The Weeknd appeared in the hit 2019 movie Uncut Gems.
Leia: Rachel Sennott
HBORachel Sennott stars in The Idol cast as Leia, Jocelyn’s best friend and hardworking assistant, one who tries her best to keep the singer on track – which is not an easy task when there’s so much pressure from every corner.
Sennott is best known as a comedian, including her online comedy television series Ayo and Rachel Are Single with Ayo Edebiri. She also appeared in the movies Shiva Baby and Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Dyanne: Jennie Ruby Jane
HBOJennie Ruby Jane plays Dyanne, another of Jocelyn’s best friends and her backing dancer, one who helps to give her a boost when she’s feeling the pressure – but is there more to this character than meets the eye?
Does Jennie even need an introduction? For the uninitiated, she’s a member of the K-pop juggernaut that is Blackpink. The Idol is Jennie’s acting debut.
Chaim: Hank Azaria
HBOHank Azaria stars in The Idol cast as Chaim, one of the many blood-suckers, sorry managers of Jocelyn.
Azaria is a comedian and actor, best known for his voice work on The Simpsons. Since 1989, he’s portrayed a number of characters on the long-running cartoon, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, and Comic Book Guy.
Destiny: Da’Vine Joy Randolph
HBODa’Vine Joy Randolph plays Destiny, Jocelyn’s no-nonsense co-manager who is described as a confidant to the pop star, but also isn’t afraid to say it how it is.
Randolph is a singer and actress who first rose to fame as Oda Mae Brown in the Broadway production of Ghost: The Musical. She’s also appeared in Empire, People of the Earth, and This Is Us.
Nikki: Jane Adams
HBOJane Adams plays Nikki Katz, a cutthroat record label executive who, like a lot of her team, doesn’t appear to have Jocelyn’s best interests at heart. She’s the kind of person who says, “Mental illness is sexy,” which should tell you everything you need to know.
Adams has appeared in a number of notable movies over the years, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Happiness, and A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as TV shows such as Easy and Sneaky Pete.
Xander: Troye Sivan
HBOTroye Sivan stars in The Idol cast as Xander, Jocelyn’s creative director and one who’s a little less brutal than the rest of the team – little being the key word here.
Sivan is a YouTuber and singer-songwriter, having released his debut album Blue Neighbourhood in 2015, followed by his second record Bloom in 2018. He’s also dabbled in acting before, playing the younger Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the eponymous lead in the Spud movie trilogy.
Andrew: Eli Roth
HBOEli Roth plays Andrew Finkelstein, a representative for events promotion firm Live Nation. Like all of the others working hard to puppeteer Jocelyn’s stardom, he too grows frustrated with Tedros’ increasing influence on her career.
Roth is best known as the filmmaker behind a number of splatter horrors, including Cabin Fever, Hostel, and The Green Inferno.
Izaak: Moses Sumney
HBOMoses Sumney plays Izaak, one of Tedros’ most prominent followers, whose loyalty to the rat-tailed leader could end up costing him down the line.
Sumney is a singer-songwriter, having released his self-recorded EP Mid-City Island in 2014, followed by his first full album Aromanticism in 2017 and his second, Græ, in 2020. He played himself in HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness, and also appeared in the movie Creed while working on the soundtrack alongside Ludwig Görannson and Tessa Thompson.
Chloe: Suzanna Son
HBOSuzanna Son plays Chloe, another of Tedros’ follows and one who is musically very talented – even if she does give off “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” vibes.
It’s no surprise Son gets to show off her skills in The Idol, as she is a musician in real life. In the acting realm, she’s best known for her role as Strawberry in Red Rocket.
Talia: Hari Nef
HBOHari Nef plays Talia, a Vanity Fair journalist who is tasked with writing a profile on Jocelyn.
Nef is a model and actress, with her breakthrough role being Gittel in the Amazon series Transparent.
Benjamin: Dan Levy
HBODan Levy plays Benjamin, Jocelyn’s publicist who is immediately put to the test with a scandal in the first episode.
Levy is an actor, writer, and producer, with arguably his most famous role being his portrayal of David Rose in Schitt’s Creek, which he co-created with his father.
Rob: Karl Glusman
HBOKarl Glusman plays Rob, Jocelyn’s ex-boyfriend who returns in Episode 4.
Glusman has also appeared in Love, The Neon Demon, and Nocturnal Animals.
The Idol Episodes 1-4 are available to stream on Max now, while Episode 5 will drop on July 2. You can check out our other coverage below:
