Independent Editorial · Not Affiliated With Any Studio or Streaming Service · Editorial Policy
What Is New With Entertainment Movies in October 2026? Latest official studio and streaming sources and Key Takeaways - Featured image

AI Actors in Hollywood: Tilly Norwood, SAG-AFTRA and the Studio Lawsuits

by

AI actors in Hollywood stopped being a hypothetical in September 2025, when a production studio presented a computer-generated performer called Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Summit and said agents were interested in representing her. Since then the actors’ union has written synthetic performers into its contract, three studios have sued an AI image company, and Disney has licensed its characters to OpenAI.

The short version: under the SAG-AFTRA contract ratified on June 4, 2026, an AI performer can be cast only when it offers “significant additional value” over a human actor or that actor’s digital replica, and producers must give the union notice and a chance to bargain. Studios are fighting unlicensed use of their characters in court while licensing them to partners they choose. Tilly Norwood, meanwhile, has been announced as the lead of a feature in early development.

Who is Tilly Norwood?

Tilly Norwood is a computer-generated character made by Particle6, the AI production studio run by Eline Van der Velden. According to NBC Los Angeles, the studio built her with 10 different AI tools and describes its creations as “hyper-realistic digital avatars” for campaigns and other media. At the Zurich Summit, The A.V. Club reported, Van der Velden said she wanted Tilly “to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman,” and she told Variety that “The age of synthetic actors isn’t ‘coming’— it’s here.”

The backlash was immediate. Actress and producer Anne-Marie Johnson told NBC Los Angeles that agents and managers needed to stand with actors, since “when we don’t get hired, they don’t get their commission.” Van der Velden then softened her pitch in a social media post: “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work—a piece of art.” She added: “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush.”

What SAG-AFTRA said

The union’s statement, released on September 30, 2025 as reported by The A.V. Club, opened with its position: “SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.” Then it addressed Norwood directly: “To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers—without permission or compensation.”

It ended with a warning aimed at studios rather than at Particle6: signatory producers “may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.” That notice-and-bargain rule came from the deal that ended the 2023 actors’ strike, which also required consent and payment before a studio could use a real actor’s digital replica.

AI actors in Hollywood under the 2026 SAG-AFTRA contract

The next contract, ratified on June 4, 2026, added a test for synthetic performers. Variety reports that members approved the four-year deal with 91.4% in favor and 8.6% against, on turnout of 19.3% of eligible members. The core AI clause sets a bar: a synthetic performer has to offer “significant additional value” over a live actor, or over that actor’s own digital avatar, before a producer can use it. Union leaders argue that language, backed by an arbitration provision, will confine AI performers to a handful of edge cases. Executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the deal would “ensure synthetics remain the exception in our industry instead of the rule.”

Not everyone in the union agrees. Some members warned that studios will face little real constraint and pushed for tighter rules. And because the contract runs four years instead of the usual three, Variety notes, the union cannot strike over synthetic actors until 2030; it gets notice and an opportunity to bargain if studios start using them. Directors were still negotiating when the actors ratified, with AI among the key issues in the Directors Guild talks.

When What happened Source
2023 Actors’ strike wins consent and pay for AI replicas Variety
June Disney and Universal file a joint suit against Midjourney AP
September 5, 2025 Warner Bros. Discovery suit reported; it is the third studio to sue AP, TV Tech
September 30, 2025 SAG-AFTRA statement on Tilly Norwood The A.V. Club
December 11, 2025 Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI and licenses characters to Sora Disney press release
June 4, 2026 SAG-AFTRA ratifies four-year deal with synthetic-performer terms Variety
July 2026 Particle 6 announces Tilly Norwood feature, Misaligned ABC7, Variety

The studio lawsuits against Midjourney

While actors fought over synthetic performers, studios went to court over their characters. Disney and Universal filed a joint lawsuit against the AI image company Midjourney in June, and in September 2025 Warner Bros. Discovery became the third big studio to sue it in Los Angeles federal court, the Associated Press reported. According to the Warner suit, even a generic prompt for a “classic comic book superhero battle” produces high-quality images of Superman, Batman and the Flash. The studio wants as much as $150,000 “per infringed work.”

The Warner complaint argues that Midjourney knew how to block infringing output and chose not to. According to the filing as quoted by TV Tech, Midjourney at first refused to animate many images of Warner characters when it launched video generation, then “within the last couple of weeks, Midjourney deliberately removed these protection measures on video in its Service… It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here.” “Midjourney thinks it is above the law,” the studio said in the suit, and the Motion Picture Association endorsed the case.

Midjourney denies infringing. In an August filing in the Disney and Universal case, quoted by AP, it argued that “Training a generative AI model to understand concepts by extracting statistical information embedded in copyrighted works is a quintessentially transformative fair use.”

Disney’s deal with OpenAI

The same studios are not against AI-generated character content as such; they want it licensed. On December 11, 2025 Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year agreement letting Sora generate short user-prompted videos drawing on more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, with a selection of those fan videos to stream on Disney+. Disney also agreed to make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI. The line that matters most for actors is short: “The agreement does not include any talent likenesses or voices.” Characters are licensed; performers are not.

What happens next

Particle 6 announced in July 2026 that Tilly Norwood will star in Misaligned, which its press release calls a “comedy-drama telling a coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos.” The synopsis describes Tilly as “an AI being with no real body, no childhood and no lived experience of her own,” and ABC7 reported that the project is in early development with key collaborators attached. No studio or release date had been announced. Any production that wants to cast her under a SAG-AFTRA agreement now has to clear the “significant additional value” test and notify the union first. Separately, our piece on streamers commissioning AI-generated films covers the budget side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Tilly Norwood a real actress?

No. Tilly Norwood is a computer-generated character created by the AI studio Particle6. SAG-AFTRA said in September 2025 that she is not an actor but a character generated by a computer program trained on the work of professional performers without permission or compensation.

Can studios use AI actors under the SAG-AFTRA contract?

Only in limited cases. The contract ratified on June 4, 2026 permits a synthetic performer only when it offers significant additional value over a human actor or that actor’s digital replica, and the union must get notice and an opportunity to bargain.

Can SAG-AFTRA strike over AI before 2030?

According to Variety, no. Because the contract runs four years, the union cannot strike over synthetic actors until it expires in 2030.

Why did Disney and Warner Bros. sue Midjourney?

They allege its image and video service lets subscribers generate copies of their copyrighted characters without permission. Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking up to $150,000 per infringed work, TV Tech reported.

Does Disney’s OpenAI deal let Sora copy actors?

No. Disney’s announcement says the agreement covers more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters and does not include any talent likenesses or voices.

Sources

We use cookies to run this site, measure how it’s used, and show ads. Choose “Essentials only” to limit cookies to what the site needs to work. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy.