The Stranger Things documentary director has addressed wild rumors that the show’s creators Ross and Matt Duffer used ChatGPT to write the series finale.
When One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 premiered on Monday, many longtime fans of the show claimed they saw the AI platform’s icon open on a computer.
While the Duffer brothers discussed how they structured their ideas for the finale, the documentary showed a Google Doc open on their laptops.
The show’s creators received harsh backlash from furious fans accusing them of turning to AI and even suggesting that they used fan theories on Reddit forums for the show.
Now, director Martina Radwan has broken her silence and is coming to the Duffer brothers’ defense, wholly denying the fan speculation and allegations.
Radwan told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday: ‘I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?’
The Stranger Things documentary director addressed rumors that the show’s creators Ross and Matt Duffer had used ChatGPT to write the series finale; Millie Bobby Brown pictured in season five episode still
The show’s creators received harsh backlash from furious fans accusing them of turning to AI and even suggesting they used fan theories on Reddit forums for the show
After being asked about the unsubstantiated claims, Radwan denied them and suggested it was ‘impossible’ to use AI as a tool to write such a complex series with so many characters and storylines.
‘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 later clarified that she ‘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.’
She said the existence of ChatGPT on their computers would only suggest that the Duffer brothers and other people working behind the scenes of Stranger Things ‘just use these tools … while multitasking.’
She explained ‘there’s a lot going on all the time, every time’ while creating the show.
Radwan also shared her disappointment at the accusations by fans.
‘What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart,’ she said.
Director Martina Radwan broke her silence two days later as she came to their defense, wholly denying the speculation and allegations; pictured to the right of Lisa Remington in March 2025
When One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 premiered on Monday, many longtime fans of the show claimed they saw the AI platform’s icon open on a computer
As for what she saw in the writers room, she again clarified and denied seeing the showrunners use ChatGPT to put together the scripts.
‘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.’
Furious fans have been up in arms since the release of Stranger Things’ finale on New Year’s Day – as the sci-fi series came to an end after ten years.
Viewers tuned in to watch the final episode of the sci-fi hit show on New Year’s Day, which drew to a close the winding story of Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven and her band of friends in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins.
The action-packed two-hour episode saw the group of teens, made up of Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Max, and their siblings and pals, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan and Robin, take on bad guy Vecna in one final battle.
With the help of beloved characters Joyce, Hopper and Murray, season two star Kali, the friends launched an interdimensional attack against Vecna, known also as 001, Mr Whatsit and Henry Creel, and his master, the Mind Flayer.
With high levels of anticipation from fans for the finale, which comes almost ten years after the first episode dropped in 2016, the ending was divisive among viewers.
While the Duffer brothers discussed how they structured their ideas for the finale, the documentary showed a GoogleDoc open on their laptops
After being asked about the unsubstantiated claims, Radwan denied them and suggested it was ‘impossible’ to use AI as a tool to write such a complex TV series
Furious fans have been up in arms since the release of Stranger Things’ finale on New Year’s Day – as the sci-fi series came to an end after ten years
While some praised the ‘nostalgic’ ending, others felt there were many unanswered questions in the finale for it to truly spell the culmination of the series – with some hitting out against the Duffer Brothers for ‘a series of plot holes’.
It saw a growing fan theory begin circulating online, called Conformity Gate, which suggested the ending viewers saw was not the real one.
Some fans believed that another episode was due to drop on January 7 after a series of clues pointing towards the date, suggesting the finale was just an illusion created by show villain Vecna, who is still alive.
Fans took to social media to compile evidence for the case, pointing towards a series of inconsistencies in the story which would suggest the seemingly perfect ending has been manufactured.
However, the fan-driven theory was debunked when January 7 came and no new episode was released.
