The Idol debuts! Euphoria creator Sam Levinson returns with the sexually-charged series

HBO debuts Sunday with its new series The Idol, which has had no shortage of controversy in the run-up to its debut.

Early reviews have labeled Euphoria creator Sam Levinson’s show as “toxic” and “disturbing,” while a recent Rolling Stone report claimed the show bordered on “sexual torture porn,” while criticizing Levinson’s on-set leadership.

The series follows Lily-Rose Depp’s character Jocelyn, a singer who suffered a nervous breakdown during her last tour.

She meets mysterious nightclub impresario Tedros (The Weeknd) to try to take her career in a new direction in the sexually charged series.

The series also stars Dan Levy, Jane Adams, Rachel Sernott, DaVine Joy Randolph, Hank Azaria, Elizabeth Berkley, and Anne Heche in one of her final roles.

The series begins with a warning that the episode contains “violence, nudity, and sexual content.”

In the first shot, Jocelyn can be seen during a photo shoot, as the photographer asks her to smile and then show off her “innocent” looks.

He asks her to look “studious” and then “play with the camera” before giving “pure sex” and “vulnerable” looks.

The camera pulls back as Jocelyn appears to be crying, wearing an open red robe as the photographer keeps darting away.

The shot shows others just off frame stepping in to get her ready for more shots, as Jocelyn takes a drag on her cigarette before the title card is shown.

Nikki (Jane Adams) talks to Chaim (Hank Azaria) right outside the photoshoot as someone else argues she shouldn’t be wearing a hospital bracelet.

“You have so little contact. Stop trying to block America,” says Nikki, explaining that he’s not a prude, but he doesn’t think she should be wearing a hospital wristband, as Nikki claims that “mental illness is sexy.”

“If you live in Sioux City, Iowa, you’ll never meet a girl like Jocelyn. She doesn’t walk the streets, she didn’t go to your high school, she doesn’t work in the bar or restaurant, and she isn’t married to your best friend. And if she happened to do that, she’ll still never fuck you. Unless she has some very, very serious mental issues. And that’s exactly why mental illness is sexy,” Nikki explains.

The producers explain that there is a very strict nude rider and they can’t show her full breasts, but they try to argue about how much of her breasts they can show.

Chaim pays someone $5,000 to keep someone in a room for the next three hours.

Meanwhile, Chaim and Destiny (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) reveal that a nude photo of Jocelyn has been leaked onto the internet.

‘Chaimy, it’s coming. On her face,” Destiny says to Chaim, as they debate whether it’s a selfie or not.

Leia (Rachel Sennot) adds, “Yeah, well, and she was on the floor.

‘If I find who did this, I’ll put a bullet in his head. You understand this? And that’s going to be on your head,” says Chaim.

A reporter from Vanity Fair, Talia (Hari Nef) arrives on the photo set, as does LiveNation’s Andrew (Eli Roth).

Meanwhile, Chaim, Nikki and Talia talk about the photo as security finally lets Andrew in.

Jocelyn meets Talia, who says she grew up watching her on Rock House, as Talia says there must be “a lot” today, as it’s clear Jocelyn doesn’t know about the leaked photo yet.

“So no one has told her about the picture yet?” asks Talia as they don’t know how to react, watching Jocelyn rehearse with the dancers.

Dan Levy’s character, Jocelyn’s publicist, is talking to someone on the phone and if they share the leaked photo, they’re part of the problem.

Andrew complains about the photo being leaked because it is causing fewer concert tickets to be sold.

Jocelyn talks to the choreographer who thinks she needs to take a break, while Nikki comes and talks to Andrew, as they fear she’s on a psychotic break.

Jocelyn is told to watch one of the dancers to take in every detail, while the publicist warns everyone that the Vanity Fair writer is there.

Jocelyn keeps watching, but she wipes tears from under her sunglasses before going back to the dancers as a dancer tries to cheer her on.

She looks up at everyone watching her from the balcony before she gets back into the routine, looking up at the Vanity Fair writer and her team.

After the Rolling Stone report was published, Depp creator Sam Levinson defended in a statement to E! News.

“Sam is the best director I’ve ever worked with for so many reasons. Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, more valued for my input and opinions,” she said.

“Working with Sam is a real collaboration in every way – the most important thing to him is not just what his actors think of the work, but how we feel when we perform it.”

While Depp defended Levinson, she did reveal that in an interview with Weekly entertainment that she sometimes tended to keep her distance with The Weeknd.

“I don’t think anyone followed the full method — nobody went crazy. Well, sometimes if Abel got — I don’t want to reveal too much about where Abel’s character goes, but sometimes if he were in full Tedros mode I’d steer clear of him, I’d say, “He’s in his zone right now,” Depp admitted.

However, Lily-Rose praised the atmosphere, saying, “For something that naturally explores dark themes and has some pretty heavy emotional moments and stuff, the atmosphere on set was pretty light-hearted.”

It comes after director and co-creator Sam Levinson addressed the show’s controversies at a Cannes press conference.

“We live in a very sexualized world,” he said, “especially in the United States, and I think the influence of pornography is very strong in terms of the psyche of, I think, young people in the United States.

“We see this in pop music and how it reflects the underbelly of the internet. I think it’s very true to what almost every pop star is doing these days.”

Lily-Rose said she was involved in creating all aspects of her character Joselyn, including the amount of on-screen nudity.

The six-episode series was created by Levinson, The Weeknd and Reza Fahim, with Levinson also directing the episodes.

It remains to be seen if HBO decides to renew The Idol for a second season after tonight’s series premiere.