On September 5, 2025, the world of cinema and technology collided in an unexpected way. Showrunner, an Amazon-backed artificial intelligence (AI) enterprise, announced a bold new project: to reconstruct 43 minutes of missing footage from Orson Welles’ 1942 film, The Magnificent Ambersons, using cutting-edge AI technology. The lost segments of this film, considered a “holy grail” by film historians and cinephiles, have haunted Hollywood for over eight decades. Now, with the help of AI, Showrunner aims to bring Welles’ original vision closer to reality—even if the journey is fraught with controversy and skepticism.
The story of The Magnificent Ambersons is itself a Hollywood tragedy. After the release of his groundbreaking debut, Citizen Kane, Welles poured his creative energy into his next film, only to have studio executives at RKO seize control during editing. They slashed more than 40 minutes from Welles’ cut, leaving just 13 of the original 73 scenes untouched. To make matters worse, the negatives of the cut footage were burned—allegedly to recover the silver and make room for other productions. The result? An altered ending, a compromised narrative, and a film that, despite its brilliance, has always felt incomplete.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Showrunner’s new initiative is not about commercial gain. Since the company does not own the rights to the film—those are held by Warner Bros. Discovery and Concord—there are no plans for a commercial release. Instead, the goal is to answer a question that has lingered for eighty years: “Might this have been the best film ever made in its original form?” As Showrunner’s CEO Edward Saatchi put it, “The goal isn’t to commercialize the 43 minutes, but to see them exist in the world after 80 years of people asking.”
Showrunner’s approach is ambitious, blending AI with traditional filmmaking techniques. The company’s proprietary AI model, Fable, is designed to produce long and complex narratives—eventually, even full-length live-action films. For this project, Showrunner plans to reshoot missing scenes with live actors, then use AI-driven face-swapping to replicate the original cast’s appearances. Archival set photos and Welles’ meticulous notes will serve as guides, ensuring the recreated footage aligns with the director’s vision as closely as possible. “This painstaking AI reconstruction over the next two years aims to get as close as possible to Welles’ exact vision—as close as possible without finding the destroyed footage,” Saatchi explained.
Leading the reconstruction is filmmaker Brian Rose, who has dedicated the past five years to piecing together the missing 30,000 frames from The Magnificent Ambersons. Rose has previously used 3D modeling and animation to reconstruct lost scenes, even screening his artistic renditions at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Now, he brings his expertise—and his extensive archive of notes and research—to the Showrunner project. Assisting him is Tom Clive, a visual effects specialist skilled in face-swapping and de-aging techniques. Their combined efforts promise a restoration that, while technologically advanced, remains rooted in human artistry.
But not everyone is applauding. The Orson Welles estate has criticized the project, calling it a publicity stunt and claiming they were not consulted. The estate’s reaction underscores a broader unease within the creative community. Many artists and filmmakers worry about AI’s growing influence in Hollywood, fearing it could threaten jobs and erode the human element in storytelling. These anxieties were a major factor in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA strikes just two years ago, as reported by Cinema Daily US.
Saatchi, however, sees things differently. He believes AI represents a new frontier for creative expression and economic opportunity. “Year by year, the technology is getting closer to prompting entire films with AI. Today, AI can’t sustain a story beyond one short episode,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “But this is a step toward a scary, strange future of generative storytelling.” Saatchi even speculates that artists like Andy Warhol and Leonardo da Vinci would have embraced AI, arguing that “what’s coming is a world where we’re not the only creative species, and that we will enjoy entertainment created by AIs.”
The implications for the film industry are profound. Showrunner envisions a future where studios wield unprecedented control over content. Imagine a scenario where a lead actor is embroiled in scandal, or a subplot fails to resonate with audiences. With AI, studios could swiftly edit, rewrite, or even overhaul an entire film post-production—potentially within a single afternoon. While this level of control is tantalizing for executives, it raises thorny questions about artistic integrity, historical preservation, and the very nature of creativity.
Of course, AI’s track record in Hollywood hasn’t always been stellar. Previous attempts at digitally enhancing or recreating performances—like the infamous AI crowd in a Will Smith film, or billionaire faces awkwardly inserted into The Wizard of Oz—have often resulted in unintentional comedy rather than cinematic magic. Still, the technology is advancing rapidly, and Showrunner’s experiment is being watched closely by both skeptics and supporters.
The debate over AI’s role in film restoration is far from settled. Some argue that projects like this one offer a chance to right historical wrongs, giving audiences a glimpse of what might have been. Others, like film critic Jonathan Lethem, caution that the very ache of loss is part of The Magnificent Ambersons’ enduring power. As Lethem wrote, “how can it be that the themes of the film so profoundly conspire with the ache its ruination induces in the viewer?”
Meanwhile, the search for the original lost footage continues. Filmmaker Joshua Grossberg has spent years tracking leads in Brazil, where Welles was reportedly working during the editing process. His quest—and the tantalizing possibility of finding the last surviving print—will be chronicled in the upcoming documentary, The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles The Magnificent Ambersons.
What would Orson Welles himself think of all this? The answer is complicated. While his estate recently authorized an AI recreation of his voice for narration, citing Welles’ reputation as a futurist, the director was also deeply wary of technology’s impact on society. In the 1972 documentary Future Shock, Welles warned, “Our modern technologies have changed the degree of sophistication beyond our wildest dreams. But this technology has exacted a pretty heavy price. We live in an age of anxiety and time of stress. And with all our sophistication, we are in fact the victims of our own technological strengths.”
As Showrunner embarks on its two-year mission to piece together the missing heart of The Magnificent Ambersons, the world will be watching—curious, hopeful, and perhaps a little anxious. Whether this experiment marks a new era of artistic possibility or a further step into the uncanny valley, it’s certain to spark conversation for years to come.
