Even if you have never seen an episode of The Idol, you've likely encountered its general vibe. Like, ooh, so dark! So tortured! From the "twisted minds" of Sam Levinson and Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye! Someone alert the church elders!
The backstory surrounding the production of The Idol is undeniably entwined with the show itself. The HBO series was originally directed by Amy Seimetz, known for The Girlfriend Experience and She Dies Tomorrow, but she suddenly left production with around 80% of the show shot. Reports suggested that the ensuing creative overhaul was because Abel, the show's co-creator and male lead, said it had too much of a "female perspective."
Enter Sam, who scrapped reportedly $54–75 million worth of the nearly-finished project. His rewrites and reshoots, according to one person involved with production who spoke to Rolling Stone, took the show "from satire to the thing it was satirizing." The publication described the original show as being about a "troubled starlet falling victim to a predatory industry figure and fighting to reclaim her own agency."
