News that the AI-generated performer Tilly Norwood will headline a full-length feature has revived debate across Hollywood over whether the technology behind her amounts to an unauthorized use of human performers’ work.
Particle 6, the London-based studio behind Norwood, announced this week it is producing “Misaligned,” a comedy-drama the company describes as its first full AI feature and Norwood’s first major starring role. The film unfolds in what the studio calls the “Tillyverse,” following an AI character with no body or lived experience who is drawn toward more human impulses after encountering a rogue bot. Particle 6 says the production blends AI tools with human crew members, including directors, writers and editors, and that it remains in early stages, unlikely to be finished before next year.
Particle 6 founder and CEO Eline van der Velden said the project is meant to demonstrate current AI capabilities and help traditional filmmakers adapt to a changing industry. She has said Norwood was built through roughly 2,000 iterations using publicly available AI tools rather than modeled on any specific performer’s likeness, and that the character will appear only in AI-generated productions rather than films featuring real actors.
Industry reaction has largely echoed the resistance that greeted Norwood’s debut last year. SAG-AFTRA has maintained that Norwood is not an actor but “a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers… without permission or compensation,” arguing such technology risks jeopardizing performers’ livelihoods.
The union’s president, Sean Astin, said last year that AI tools built this way take something that does not belong to their creators, regardless of how novel the resulting character appears. The U.K. performers’ union Equity issued a similar statement this week, saying questions about consent and compensation will persist as long as the training data behind such systems remains untraceable.
Actors including Emily Blunt and Whoopi Goldberg have publicly criticized Norwood since her introduction, with Blunt calling the character “terrifying” when she first learned of it. Van der Velden has said she received death threats over the backlash and contacted police as a result.
Not everyone in the industry has rejected the technology outright. Actor Demi Moore told audiences at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival that the industry should find ways to work with AI rather than resist it, and the estate of the late Val Kilmer authorized an AI recreation of the actor for the upcoming film “As Deep As the Grave.” Van der Velden has said she does not believe AI-generated performers will replace live-action filmmaking altogether, even as she expects AI’s role in film production to expand.
