Following the highly anticipated Stranger Things finale that dropped at the start of the new year, many fans were devastated that the show they'd followed for over a decade had finally come to a close. However, their devastation was quickly replaced with intrigue when Netflix dropped a documentary just a few weeks later. Now, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 has everyone's attention.
The doc follows the show's final year of production and offers insight into the nitty-gritty details of the series. It's perfect for diehard fans who want to get the inside scoop. Controversy arose, however, when a few fans noticed something strange about a shot that focuses on the Duffer Brothers crafting the finale script.
Fans zoomed in on a shot of a laptop where the script was being written, claiming that a ChatGPT tab was also open. Many concluded that, therefore, ChatGPT must have been used to write the script for season 5. Why else would the storyline for the show have declined?
The director of the documentary, Martina Radwan, chose to set the record straight with the Hollywood Reporter this week. She claims that, no, the Duffer Brothers did not use ChatGPT to write Stranger Things.
Director of 'Stranger Things' Doc Questions Validity of ChatGPT Rumors
When asked if the Duffer Brothers used ChatGPT around the film crew for the doc, Radwan posed questions of her own.
"I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?" she asked. "There's a lot of chatter where [people on social media] 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?"
She continued, highlighting that ChatGPT is a helpful tool, but that doesn't mean it single-handedly crafted the show's script. "That's like having your iPhone next to your computer while you're writing a story," she shared. "We just use these tools ... while multitasking. So there's a lot going on all the time, every time. What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart."
"How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don't even understand," she continued.
Many fans online also pointed out that the production of Stranger Things' final season was delayed by the WGA Strike back in 2023, during which the use of AI in scriptwriting was a central issue.
