No, Stranger Things won’t use AI to make the kids look younger
By Ashley Hurst
Progress on the fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things was put on pause earlier this year due to Hollywood writers strike, which has since been resolved. One of the things the writers were fighting for were guardrails on the use of generation artificial intelligence, which they were afraid executives might use to replace them. By and large, the writers got the protections they were looking for.
Advancements in AI technology have been moving forward scarily fast in recent years. All of a sudden, it’s feasible to get chat bots to write out entire movie scripts in seconds, and to use powerful AI tools to generate images and videos of all types. But some filmmakers are steering clear of these sorts of tools, including the team behind Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things.
It would be quite easy for the Stranger Things team to make use of AI. For example, they could use it to de-age the young stars in the main cast. But as easy as it may be to delegate certain tasks to a computer, it will not be happening.
Stranger Things producer wants to “stick the landing”
“No,” director Shawn Levy told Deadline when asked about potentially utilizing AI to make the kids look younger. “I kind of was surprised that one sentence I said around this topic traveled so widely. The bottom line is, we know what we’re doing on this show. Our cast is brilliant. And these characters that the Duffers have created are so vivid. I’m not worried about everyone suiting back up and bringing them to life.”
Levy is certainly feeling the pressure to deliver on the upcoming fifth and final season. “The thing that people just need to remember is, we who make the show are fans of the show, too,” he said. “And you better believe we want to stick the landing.”
As for when production will ramp up again, we’ll have to wait until the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actor’s strike is resolved. Levy said that everyone involved is “chomping at the bit” to return to action.
Next. Stranger Things 5 has “exceeded all our expectations,” will hopefully start filming “shortly”. dark
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