Tilly Norwood Wants Tom Holland and Olivia Colman as Digital Twin Co-Stars

Tilly Norwood has named Tom Holland and Olivia Colman as the two stars she would most like to work with, but the AI-created performer has a very specific type of collaboration in mind.

Speaking at the Zurich Summit in Switzerland on September 26, Tilly said she would want to appear with digital twins of Tom and Olivia in an AI production rather than alongside the actors themselves in a conventional film.

The comments came exactly a year after Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden introduced Tilly at the same event, triggering an international discussion about virtual performers, acting and the increasing use of generative AI in entertainment.

Neither Tom nor Olivia is currently attached to a Tilly project. Instead, their names were given as dream collaborators when Tilly was asked who she would like to work with in the future.

The more significant development is what Particle6 has revealed about where it now intends to take its virtual performer.

Eline said on September 26 that the company has received numerous offers involving Tilly during the past year but has turned down opportunities to place her in conventional films. Particle6 has also decided that Tilly does not currently need a traditional talent agent despite previous interest in representing her.

That suggests the company is increasingly positioning Tilly within productions specifically designed around AI and digital performance rather than attempting to place her into existing filmmaking structures.

Her answer involving Tom and Olivia gives an idea of what that could eventually look like.

A digital twin is a computer-generated recreation of a real person. In entertainment, an authorised digital twin could potentially allow an actor’s likeness to appear within digitally created scenes or performances under agreed conditions.

Any production involving a digital version of Tom or Olivia would therefore require their participation and permission. No such project has been announced.

Tilly’s return to Zurich also comes after a year in which AI performers have moved from an unusual experiment into a much bigger entertainment industry conversation.

Particle6 has continued developing Tilly as a recognisable character while debates have intensified around consent, digital replicas, employment and what audiences expect when virtual performers appear alongside human creative work.

What happened in Zurich on September 26 gives a clearer indication of Particle6’s direction.

Rather than treating Tilly as a digital replacement who simply steps into an ordinary movie role, the company appears to be exploring entertainment built around AI performers from the beginning.

Tom Holland and Olivia Colman may only be dream collaborators for now, but the idea of their authorised digital twins sharing a production with Tilly points towards one of the stranger questions AI filmmaking could soon have to answer: what happens when the star of a movie is digital and the human co-stars can be digital too?