‘Stranger Things’ Doc Director Responds To ChatGPT Finale Rumors

The director behind Netflix’s new “Stranger Things”behind-the-scenes documentary is setting the record straight after a wave of online speculation claimed the Duffer brothers used ChatGPT to write the show’s series finale. When “One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5” premiered on Monday, longtime fans quickly took to social media, insisting they spotted the AI platform’s icon open on a computer. The moment in question appears during footage of creators Ross and Matt Duffer discussing how they structured their ideas for the finale, while a Google Doc is shown open on their laptops, and that’s all it took to ignite a full-blown debate online. The backlash got intense fast, with furious fans accusing the Duffers of turning to AI and even suggesting they leaned on Reddit fan theories while pulling together the final chapter of “Stranger Things.”

Now, documentary director Martina Radwan is publicly defending the series creators, and she’s flatly denying the speculation. Radwan told The Hollywood Reporter, “I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?”

Pressed on the unsubstantiated claims, Radwan pushed back hard, saying the idea of using AI to write a sprawling, character-heavy series like ‘Stranger Things’ doesn’t even make sense to her. “Well, 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?”

She continued, “How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don’t even understand.”

Radwan also clarified that she never saw anything in the writers’ room that would support the online accusations, and she stressed the difference between having a tool accessible versus relying on it unethically. “I did not witness an unethical use of generative AI in the writers room. Again, first of all, 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.”

According to Radwan, even the presence of ChatGPT on someone’s computer wouldn’t prove wrongdoing. She says it would only suggest that the creators and people around them are multitasking the same way most professionals do today, and that the Duffer brothers and other people working behind the scenes of “Stranger Things” “just use these tools … while multitasking.” She added that “there’s a lot going on all the time, every time” while creating the show.

Beyond denying the claims, Radwan admitted she was disappointed by how quickly fans jumped to conclusions, especially given how beloved the series is. “What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart,” she said.

And when it comes to what she actually saw while cameras were rolling, Radwan emphasized that the creative process doesn’t look like what many viewers assume, and it certainly wasn’t a room full of people outsourcing the work. “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 said. “And, of course, you go places in your creative mind and then you come back [to the script]. I think being in the writers room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Radwan was asked about a moment in the documentary where it appears Netflix was growing impatient with how long it was taking for scripts to come together, and whether she observed real pressure coming from the streamer. Her response was that pressure is part of the job, and it’s not unique to “Stranger Things.”

“It’s so hard to take that out of context, because again, on every film set you have that situation where, like, you’re waiting for the script, you’re rewriting the script. It happens all the time,” she told the outlet. “The biggest pressure point on any film set is time, which equals money. There’s this constant pressure point of, like, “Are we going to make the day? Are we going to get it done?”

She also pointed out that unlike many projects, “Stranger Things” has a locked timeline, which naturally raises the stakes. “In particular, this is not a fiction film where you’re like, well, “Let’s see when we’re going to be done, and then we’re going to find the festival.” [The Duffers] had their airing day. So that’s a whole different pressure, right? Because you really have no wiggle room. So it wasn’t that Netflix was particularly pressuring them … it happens all the time.”

For now, it seems that the rumors are just rumors, and she says what she witnessed was old-school collaboration, not AI-generated storytelling.