Chris Pratt wanted an actual bot to play his AI co-star instead of Dune's Rebecca Ferguson

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Chris Pratt wanted an actual bot to play his AI co-star instead of Dune's Rebecca Ferguson News By Nick Staniforth published 24 January 2026

"I was like, 'Should we have it be an AI, where the judge is actually AI, and we create an AI?'"

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Some stars would jump at the chance to star opposite Rebecca Ferguson, but Chris Pratt originally considered taking a different route when it came to his latest film, Mercy.

The new futuristic movie, which is led by the MCU and former Jurassic World star, sees Pratt as a police officer accused of murdering his wife. With his life on the line, our hero gets strapped to a chair and interrogated by an artificial intelligence (Ferguson), who will listen to his plea and decide whether he’s guilty or not.

You’d think that after being part of the IMF team in the Mission: Impossible franchise, or being the mother of a revolutionary in the Dune movies, Ferguson would be an ideal fit for a law-passing computer program. According to Pratt, though, she did have some competition early on.

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"I remember talking about the various people who could play these characters, and early on, I was like, 'Should we have it be an AI, where the judge is actually AI, and we create an AI?’” Pratt revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “And everyone was like, 'No, I don't think so,'" he recalls, acknowledging that it might not have played out so great. Laughing about the polite rejection, the star added, "I was like, 'Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea at all.”

Of course, there are no bad ideas if it helps get to the final one. "So it was actually never a possibility any more than anything is a possibility when you're zeroing in on what the outcome is going to be and what the choices are that you're going to make. It's a collaborative effort,” Pratt explained. That being said, there was one other suggestion that might’ve been even more bonkers than a real artificial intelligence, and that’s artificial intelligence in the form of Oprah Winfrey.

"It's dumb, it's going to be dumb. It did not make sense, and I'm glad we didn't do it, but one of my pitches early on was like, ‘What if [my character] could pick the judge, and I could pick Oprah, or I could pick anyone I want. Because ultimately it's just a face on a [screen]. And I thought that would be funny to have Oprah do it.”

See, now could AI come up with something like that? Well, probably, but let’s just be glad it didn’t. Now, for no reason whatsoever, here’s our list of the 30 best movie robots to make you fear for humanity.

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Nick StaniforthSocial Links NavigationContributing Writer

Nick is a freelancer whose work can be found at Screen Rant, The Digital Fix, and Looper. He loves movies, TV, DC, and Marvel. He also believes that the best Robin Hood is still a talking fox.

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