The Idol wasted over $50 million on unused material. So The Weeknd had to chip in.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the ending of HBO's The Idol. 

Before Sam Levinson came on to direct The Idol, former director Amy Seimetz had finished creating 80 per cent of the series.

HBO said the show was having a "major creative overhaul" and would be "adjusting the cast and crew" at the time.

When Seimetz left, Levinson scrapped a reported $54-75 million USD worth of material.

They replaced a majority of the crew members, the script was changed daily, and Levinson cut the series down to five episodes from six.

Oh, and The Weeknd loaned the show his mansion and his own Los Angeles concerts to film at.

Watch the trailer for The Idol here. Post continues below.

The Idol stars Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) as Tedros, the head of a contemporary cult, who begins a complicated relationship with Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose Depp), a popstar who tries to reclaim her successful career after a nervous breakdown.

It wrapped up its five-episode season earlier this week with a surprising ending – that was evidently spoiled for The Weeknd fans who attended his Los Angeles concert last September.

After four episodes of hoping Jocelyn will leave Tedros, the final scene ends with her on-stage introducing him to her tens of thousands of fans as "the love of her life".

The scene was filmed at The Weeknd's sold-out Los Angeles concert to cut costs for the expensive production they overhauled.

@passingfancydaily

They didn’t have to pay for extras 😂

♬ Reminder - The Weeknd

"We basically shot this with a live audience of 70,000 people," Sam Levinson said in HBO’s Inside Episode 5 featurette. 

"We have two takes to do it. We had the Friday night and the Saturday Night of the concert. Either we get it or we don't."

Culture reporter Kat Tenbarge highlighted how filming at The Weeknd's concert meant "the last scene and overall arc of the series was spoiled for everyone who bothered to tune in". 

"This will go down in history as one of the most expensive, worst and most disastrous TV projects of all time," she tweeted.

To further save money, one of The Idol's primary shoot locations is the musician's very own $70 million USD Bel Air mansion, where Jocelyn lives in the show.

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“If we were going to reshoot from the beginning, I knew it had to be for less money,” Levinson told W Magazine.

"Sitting in Abel’s house, looking around at the 40,000 square feet, I said, 'It’s stunning here — you can’t buy production design like this. What if we shoot it here?' 

"Abel put down his drink and said, 'Do you have insurance?' I said yes. And he said, 'I’m okay with it'."

"We were trying to blur the line between fiction and reality. We had cameras going all the time," The Weeknd added. 

"It was weird when they all left. I changed all the furniture. I replastered the walls. But the soul of Jocelyn’s house is still in there."

The show has dominated conversation on social media since it premiered on June 4. It debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a certifiably "rotten" nine per cent rating.  

The Daily Beast labelled it 'Rape Culture: The Show', and called it a lazy, "big, expensive mess". Rolling Stone, which published an expose into the show's alleged behind-the-scenes drama in March, said it was "more toxic and way worse than you've heard".

But despite the controversy, "everyone’s intention is to have a second season," star Da’Vine Joy Randolph told Variety.

"This was never intended to be a limited series... Nothing is official, but HBO is quite happy."

Feature image: TikTok/@passingfancydaily/HBO.