The Stranger Things documentary director is breaking her silence after the two-hour special caused fans to think creators Ross and Matt Duffer used ChatGPT to write the show’s series finale.
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, which premiered on Monday, January 12, showed a moment where Ross and Matt, both, 41, used a Google Document to structure their ideas for the series finale. A shot of their laptops caused some fans to point out a tab that appeared to be ChatGPT.
“I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?” director Martina Radwan told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, January 14, when asked about the clip circulating on social media.
Radwan questioned the speculation, adding, “There’s a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, ‘We don’t really know, but we’re assuming.’ But to me, it’s like, doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?”
While not having direct knowledge of whether ChatGPT was used — and the Duffer brothers themselves didn’t respond to the outlet’s request for comment — Radwan questioned the fan assumption.
“Nobody has actually proved that it was open,” she said. “That’s like having your iPhone next to your computer while you’re writing a story. We just use these tools … while multitasking. So there’s a lot going on all the time, every time.”
When asked directly by THR, Radwan denied ever seeing “an unethical use of generative-AI in the writers room” for the hit Netflix show.
“No, of course not. I witnessed creative exchanges. I witnessed conversation. People think ‘writers’ room’ means people are sitting there writing. No, it’s a creative exchange. It’s story development,” she explained. “I think being in the writers’ room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that.”
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 documented as Matt and Ross prepared to film the final season. Cameras followed Ross and Matt behind the scenes in the writers’ room, on set and in the days leading up to production coming to an end.
After some fans already expressed dissatisfaction with the series finale not wrapping up every story line properly, the documentary was hit with backlash for showing just how delayed Ross and Matt were when it came to finishing the series finale script.
“What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart,” Radwan noted before confirming that Ross and Matt saw the final product before it aired. “I mean, they were very much part of it — yeah.”
She continued: “They were very happy with it. So, I mean, you know, there are the usual notes like you all have, but nothing where we had to pivot. They’re very gracious. Once they trust you, they let you work [and didn’t ask me to take anything out].”
In a statement released before the documentary’s premiere, the Duffers reflected on how the special was for fans of the show and anyone “curious how a major Hollywood production comes to life.”
“Growing up in Durham, North Carolina, we dreamed of becoming filmmakers — but Hollywood felt impossibly far away. Everything changed when we watched the behind-the-scenes documentaries for The Lord of the Rings — on-the-ground films that showed the real nuts and bolts of how a massive production actually gets made,” they said. “With the decline of physical media, that kind of behind-the-scenes storytelling has largely disappeared. We wanted to bring it back. One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 — beautifully captured and directed by Martina Radwan — is our attempt to do just that.”
Stranger Things is currently streaming on Netflix.
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