Here's The Real Story Behind HBO Shortening The Idol
The Idol has gone through many behind-the-scenes dramas, but getting cut is not one of them.
If you were surprised to learn that The Idol only has five episodes rather than six, you're not alone. At one point, we all thought HBO's highly controversial story about a troubled pop star and her sinister lover with a unique sense of style would be told to us in six instalments. And now, every media outlet and social media post is telling us that the upcoming fifth episode on 2 July will be the season finale.
What gives? Did HBO get fed up with all the negative feedback and decide to pull the plug on The Idol early?
Given all the flak the show's been getting about its unnecessary overabundance of explicit content, lack of character development, stale and contrived dialogue, boring story arcs, and The Weeknd's poor acting, a move to just put the show out of its misery and spare everyone the cringe would actually have made a lot of sense. But, regardless of how much people might like this fan theory, it's not true. The reason for The Idol only having five episodes instead of six is much more prosaic.
It was actually conceived of as a five-episode show from the very beginning: in fact, when it premiered at Cannes in May 2023, it was listed as a five-episode series. Furthermore, in his interview with CQ shortly after the show landed on HBO, The Weeknd described the Idol as a 'five-hour movie', clearly referencing the number of episodes. The question is, then, why did everyone assume the show had six episodes and then started acting all surprised and coming up with crazy conspiracy theories when it was announced the fifth episode was the season finale?
That notion came from the show's history, which goes back to 2021 when HBO ordered a six-episode series and hired Amy Seimetz to direct it. In the spring of 2022, Seimetz left the project, which was reported to be 80% completed by then, and the reins were handed over to HBO's favourite, Sam Levinson. Rolling Stone published an in-depth editorial in March 2023 about the infamous overhaul of the project that followed: Levinson and The Weekend rewrote and reshot the entire show, turning it into a five-episode series.
So, while the story about how HBO cut the show because of how terrible it is sounds very satisfying to people who've been pillorying it all this time, the reality is it was always intended as a five-episode series, at least once Sam Levinson took over.
The Idol finale will air on Sunday, 2 June.
Source: CQ, Rolling Stone.