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AI Actress Tilly Norwood Sharpens Hollywood’s AI Battle as Hearst Orders History Series

A new Hearst-backed History Channel series shows Particle6 turning its AI pipeline into broadcast work.

Overview

  • Hearst Networks commissioned Straten van Toen (Streets of the Past), a 10-episode short-form series for the History Channel in the Netherlands that premieres in January and digitally places historian Corjan Mol into historical moments.
  • Particle6 blends live-action footage and archival imagery with AI-driven reconstructions to deliver sequences that would be prohibitively costly using traditional production alone, with humans directing the process.
  • SAG-AFTRA said Tilly Norwood was trained on professional performers’ work without permission or compensation and warned she threatens jobs, while Emily Blunt called the concept “really, really scary.”
  • Eline Van der Velden says Tilly is intended as an additive AI performer for AI-centric projects, claims the effort has created jobs, and urges creatives to set the guardrails for this technology.
  • Particle6 says it is moving from AI test scenes toward full AI feature films, as industry insiders caution that ultra-realistic synthetic actors could let studios avoid residuals and other union-negotiated terms.