The cast of Return of the Living Dead is not on board with the franchise's AI era. Actors who were originally set to star in a sequel to the cult horror classic say they are horrified by the AI-made version of the project, Kotaku reports.

The situation stings because of how close the cast came to being part of it: the sequel was initially planned as a traditional production with the original performers attached, before it became an AI-generated film without them.

It's the latest flashpoint in entertainment's fight over generative AI, which has already fueled strikes, contract battles, and public pushback from performers over digital likenesses and machine-made content. When the people who defined a beloved franchise publicly recoil from its AI continuation, it's a signal of how raw the issue remains — and how little goodwill AI-made legacy sequels currently earn from the talent they replace.