Fans compare Lily-Rose Depp’s The Idol character to Britney Spears, can’t wait for acting debut of Blackpink’s Jennie

The new HBO series The Idol will premiere on June 4, 2023 and its first teaser about the rise of a young female pop star, played by Lily-Rose Depp, is already drawing Britney Spears comparisons. The show also marks Blackpink member Jennie’s acting debut and fans are already excited to see the K-pop star on the small screen. The new footage touts the series’ inclusion in the out of competition selection of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The Idol, which is created by Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd, Reza Fahim, and Sam Levinson, will be screened out of competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival. (Also read: Amid ‘rape fantasy’ accusations, The Idol team fires back at Rolling Stone with video; fans say ‘overcompensating much?’)

The first teaser shows a character played by Troye Sivan asking when was the last time the music industry saw “the last truly-f*cking-nasty, nasty pop-girl.” Set to the music of Britney Spears’ song Gimme More, The Idol shows a young woman Jocelyn (Lily-Rose) who catches the eye of Tedros (Abel), a powerful cult leader, at a club. Soon, she is selected for bigger things as she starts a path to becoming a pop star, surrounded by an entourage that is always pushing her for more. Jennie plays Jocelyn’s friend from before she becomes famous.

Fans reacted with both excitement and doubt to the trailer. One fan exclaimed on Twitter, “JENNIE FOR THE IDOL MY GOD SHE’S TAKING IT!” Another fan on YouTube shared, “Actress Jennie is coming and i can’t wait! I can’t wait to see Jennie in “The Idol”! I’m so excited! I love you, Jennie Kim! My Queen.” Many were also quick to point out how certain dances and even costumes were similar to Britney’s. One fan wrote, “Everything about this screams BRITNEY and you can’t tell me otherwise.” Another added on YouTube, “20 years later and Britney still is the blueprint when the subject is pop music.”

The HBO series has been under controversy even before any footage aired as a Rolling Stone report had stated that there was trouble during production as Sam took over as director after Amy Seimetz had to leave in April 2022 “due to a change in creative directions.” The report also shared that a few disturbing scenes involving lead character Jocelyn were also canned.

The Idol also stars Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Jane Adams, Mike Dean, Moses Sumney, Rachel Sennott, Ramsey, Suzanna Son and Hank Azaria.