Trailer For Darren Aronofsky’s AI Series ON THIS DAY… 1776 Recreates America’s Origin Story With Human Voice Actors
Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is experimenting with artificial intelligence through his AI-focused studio Primordial Soup, which has just unveiled the trailer for On This Day… 1776, an animated short-form series that drops viewers straight into the chaos, uncertainty, and high-stakes decisions of America’s founding year.
The series was announced by Primordial Soup, the AI studio Aronofsky launched last year, and it’s officially licensed to Time Studios, which will release episodes on Time’s YouTube channel throughout 2026. The first two episodes premiered Thursday, giving viewers an early taste of what this ambitious project is building toward.
On This Day… 1776 uses a blend of traditional filmmaking techniques and emerging AI tools, including technology from Google DeepMind. The goal isn’t to smooth out history or present it as inevitable. Instead, each episode reframes the American Revolution as something fragile, messy, and very much undecided in the moment.
One thing that still stands out is that the AI visuals absolutely look like AI. There’s an odd, slightly uncanny texture to the animation that you can’t really miss.
Importantly, the people you see on screen aren’t voiced by machines. Every character is performed by SAG-AFTRA union actors, reinforcing that this is an AI-assisted production, not an AI replacement one. At least for actors.
Each episode is tied directly to a real historical anniversary, released exactly 250 years after the events it depicts. Episode one, “January 1: The Flag,” dramatizes the raising of the Grand Union Flag on Prospect Hill.
Episode two, “January 10: Common Sense,” centers on Thomas Paine’s arrival from England and a pivotal exchange with Benjamin Franklin that leads to the creation of the pamphlet that helped ignite revolutionary thinking across the colonies and beyond.
Ben Bitonti, president of Time Studios, explained the philosophy behind the project, saying: “This project is a glimpse at what thoughtful, creative, artist-led use of AI can look like — not replacing craft, but expanding what’s possible and allowing storytellers to go places they simply couldn’t before,” said Ben Bitonti, president of Time Studios.
Aronofsky serves as executive producer on the series, with the writers room led by Lucas Sussman and an original score composed by Jordan Dykstra.
The production is backed by sponsor Salesforce, and the global team of writers, designers, and AI specialists collaborated using Salesforce’s Slack platform. Time magazine itself is owned by Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff.
New episodes of On This Day… 1776 will roll out weekly throughout 2026, each one synced to the exact anniversary of the moment it portrays. It’s a clever mix of historical storytelling, modern tech, and performance craft.
You can watch the trailer for On This Day… 1776 now and get a first look at how Aronofsky and his team are using AI to revisit the birth of a nation.