The Weeknd has shared more teasers for his special guest appearance on “American Dad!” — in an episode he co-wrote — which airs on TBS Monday night.
The episode, in which we will see “Stan abducting The Weeknd to teach Roger a lesson,” is previewed with a short trailer that offers a peek at Weeknd’s cartoon incarnation, as well as Roger performing a version of the singer’s 2016 hit “Starboy.”
The episode will also include the premiere of a brand new Weeknd song.
As described in his recent Variety cover story, the Weeknd — a lifelong film geek — has been raising his acting game, with appearances in Adam Sandler’s recent film “Uncut Gems” and a third appearance on “Saturday Night Live” last night. But neither of those really showed his acting chops as thoroughly as his recent series of videos for songs from his new album, “After Hours,” which dropped on March 20.
In them, The Weeknd portrays a red-jacketed, busted-nose character undergoing an extremely dark night of the soul in Las Vegas. He starts off partying and gambling, then gets beaten up in a fight, and as the loose, still-evolving plot unfolds across multiple clips, things get really weird, as he (possibly) becomes possessed by an evil spirit and commits a murder.
The persona shows off his budding acting chops even more than his recent big-screen debut in the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems” (where he portrays himself), and the videos are loaded with Tarantino-size film-geek references to classics like “Chinatown,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Possession” and, not least, “The Mask,” the 1994 film starring fellow Scarborough, Ontario, native Jim Carrey.