Hollywood is still shut down as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and while money remains a sticking point, so too is the role of A.I. in filmmaking.
There are concerns studios will start using that technology to replace actors; however, it's background performers who are perhaps most under threat. We've heard a lot about plans to create digital doubles of them, meaning their likenesses can be used in perpetuity without those actors being paid for those future appearances.
In a troubling update, it sounds like Disney and Lucasfilm may have already started building a library of digital actors. That's according to one extra, anyway.
"I wanted to refuse to do it. I felt uncomfortable," actor Nicole Kreuzer tells Capital and Main (via SFFGazette.com), revealing she was promised a "whole lot of work" on The Mandalorian in return for being scanned. "That was what they were kind of dangling in front of us."
"If I had said no to the scan and they sent me home that day, I would have never been called back. But they never called me back, anyway."
Kreuzer alleges that she was paid only $170 for a day working on The Mandalorian and, due to her phone being locked up (likely as a means of avoiding any leaks), she was unable to consult her union about how best to proceed.
The scans took place, anyway, and Kreuzer is in the dark when it comes to what will happen to them and whether they'll ever be used by the studio.
This is a worrying practice and one which we'd imagine is part of those SAG-AFTRA negotiations. It was recently revealed that background actors who worked on WandaVision were scanned in a similar manner, so some studios may already have a catalogue of digital performers they can now use however and whenever they please.
As for The Mandalorian, while there have been rumours about season 4 becoming a movie which will be released prior to Dave Filoni's big screen Star Wars project, nothing is confirmed on that front.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.