De-aging in film and television
{{short description|De-aging is a visual effects technique used to make an actor look younger}}
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In motion pictures, whether for film (cinema), television, or streaming, de-aging is a visual effects technique used to make an actor or actress look younger, especially for flashback scenes. This is often done by digitally editing the image or using computer-generated imagery (CGI) overlays or touch-ups. Some media will even create de-aged digital actors from scratch or with a mixture of stand-ins and CGI.
List of films
The following is a list of films, in chronological order of release, that employ de-aging techniques:
class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col" | Year ! width=260 | Film ! scope="col" class="unsortable" style="white-space:nowrap" | Description |
2006
| Actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, who play Professor X and Magneto respectively, are de-aged in a flashback scene in which the two work together to recruit Jean Grey as a student. |
2006
| Click |Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner were de-aged for flashback scenes. |
2006
|Jack Nicholson was de-aged briefly in a flashback set in the early 1980s. |
2008
|John Goodman and Susan Sarandon were de-aged for flashbacks as Pops Racer and Mom Racer respectively during Speed Racer's childhood. |
2008
| {{sortname|The|Curious Case of Benjamin Button|dab=film}} | Based on a short story in which the protagonist ages backwards, actor Brad Pitt, who plays Benjamin Button, is initially shown as elderly and is gradually de-aged to look progressively younger as numerous decades of the character's life go by. |
2009
| In this superhero film, Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor X, is de-aged for a brief cameo appearance, as the film takes place earlier in the timeline than the previous films of the series in which Stewart participated. Though Danny Huston appears as Major William Stryker in the finished film, his X2 actor Brian Cox initially expressed interest to reprise the role by employing the same CGI program applied to Stewart and Ian McKellen in The Last Stand opening sequence.{{cite news | last=Purdin |first= Rickey | title=Dig Your Claws into 'Wolverine: The Movie' – Wizard Serves Up the Full Scoop as Hugh Jackman Slices and Dices His Way Back to the Big Screen as Wolverine | work=Wizard | date=August 2, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165257/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/movies/wolverinemovie/005458455.cfm | url=http://www.wizarduniverse.com/movies/wolverinemovie/005458455.cfm | archive-date=September 30, 2007 | access-date=November 22, 2022}} |
2009
| Bruce Willis plays an FBI agent who controls a look-alike humanoid robot de-aged to appear in his mid 30s. The effect supervised by visual effects artist Mark Stetson relied on makeup, lighting, and digital effects.{{cite news|author=Patrick Kevin Day|date=October 1, 2009|title=Movie magic shaves years off sci-fi star|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-oct-01-et-scene1-story.html|quote=digital-effects artists went in to the roughly 200 shots of Willis’ surrogate and removed the creases of the actor’s face frame by frame}} |
2010
| A sequel to Tron (1982), set 28 years later, actor Jeff Bridges, who plays the protagonist Kevin Flynn in the original film, is de-aged to appear as Flynn's younger self in flashbacks and as the corrupt program CLU, a copy of Flynn himself, but decades younger. Rather than using footage from the original Tron as visual reference, Bridges' likeness was recreated with archive footage from Against All Odds (1984).{{cite web | url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/are-tron-legacys-3d-fx-ahead-of-their-time-2 | title=What Will Tron: Legacy's 3D VFX Look Like in 30 Years? | date=9 December 2010 | access-date=November 22, 2022 | archive-date=January 26, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126090845/http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/are-tron-legacys-3d-fx-ahead-of-their-time-2 | url-status=live }} Bruce Boxleitner, who plays the title character of Tron, also appears de-aged in flashbacks; his real world character of Alan Bradley appears as Boxleitner's natural age. |
2011
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | De-aging technology was used on Alan Rickman to portray Severus Snape at the time of James' and Lilly Potter's deaths at Lord Voldemort's hands. |
2011
| Ra.One | The film centred around a video game, where the characters, G.One and Ra.One takes physical form and enters the real world. Shah Rukh Khan plays a dual role in the film as Shekhar Subramaniam and G.One. Khan was de-aged for the part of G.One to make him look like a video game character. |
2011
| Hugo |Ben Kingsley was de-aged for flashback scenes of a younger Georges Melies. |
2012
| Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were digitally de-aged as their characters Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko respectively for the film's opening sequence to depict their high school days. |
2013
| Brad Dourif was de-aged with technology and a wig to make him resemble to how he looked back when he first played Charles Lee Ray / Chucky as a human in the opening sequence of Child's Play (1988). |
2013
| A film about Robert De Niro (Billy "The Kid" McDonnen) and Sylvester Stallone (Henry "Razor" Sharp) as boxing rivals. In the beginning of the film, both actors are de-aged to show them fighting each other in their youth/prime. The rest of the film is set several decades later. |
2013
| {{sortname|The|Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug}} | This film is set decades before The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003); Orlando Bloom reprises his role as the Elf character Legolas and is de-aged in his scenes, to reflect the fact that the film's Elves do not age. |
2014
| Sex Tape | Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel are slightly digitally de-aged with CGI to play their characters back during their college days in the film's prologue. |
2014
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | Michael Caine was digitally de-aged for a scene set in 1975 featuring his character Chester King. This scene was ultimately cut from the film and has never been publicly released.{{Cite web|date=2015-02-24|title='Kingsman' Deleted Scene Features a Young Michael Caine|url=https://movieweb.com/kingsman-secret-service-deleted-scene-michael-caine/|access-date=2021-04-10|website=Movieweb|language=en-US}} |
2015
| Ant-Man | Michael Douglas and Martin Donovan, who play Hank Pym and Mitchell Carson, are both de-aged by 25 years, in a flashback scene set in 1989. |
2015
| Joy |Robert De Niro was briefly de-aged for flashbacks. |
2016
| In this comedy film, actor Paul Reubens reprises his role as Pee-wee Herman 28 years after the previous Pee-wee film. De-aging was applied to Reubens to make him appear the same age as he was in his last appearance. During filming, Reubens wore powder and tape on his face. |
2016
| Fan | In this Indian film, Shah Rukh Khan stars in a double role as film star Aryan Khanna and obsessive fan Gaurav Chandna, who looks like Aryan but is around twenty years younger. Khan was de-aged for the part of Gaurav with a combination of visual effects and prosthetics. |
2016
| Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark, is de-aged in a digital recreation of a pivotal moment from the character's youth. LolaVFX analyzed footage of Downey from Less than Zero (1987) as reference to achieve the youthful appearance Downey had around that period. |
2016
|Jennifer Connelly, who plays Dawn, is de-aged to look roughly 25 years younger. LolaVFX took inspiration from her appearance in The Rocketeer (1991), focusing on the volume of her facial features.{{Cite web |last=Welk |first=Brian |date=2019-10-08 |title=22 Actors Digitally De-Aged on Film, From Brad Pitt to Robert De Niro (Photos) |url=https://www.thewrap.com/actors-who-have-been-de-aged-on-film-from-brad-pitt-to-robert-de-niro-photos/ |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=TheWrap |language=en-US}} |
2016
| Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Terence Stamp, who plays Abe Portman, is de-aged in the scenes in the loop of September 3, 1943, when he was in the army. |
2017
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Kurt Russell, who plays Ego, is de-aged in a flashback scene set on Earth in 1980. Visual effects supervisor Trent Claus disclosed that director James Gunn desired to use Escape from New York (1981) as a visual reference for Russell's appearance in the film's flashback, but given how Russell's character wore an eyepatch in that film, the VFX crew could just use that film to take notes of how his skin folded and moved, ultimately choosing Russell's appearance in Used Cars (1980) as the base reference.{{Cite news|url=https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/guardians-of-kurt/|title=Guardians of Kurt|last=Seymour|first=Mike|date=May 21, 2017|work=Fxguide|access-date=December 3, 2022}} Laura Haddock, who previously played Meredith Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), was also de-aged, albeit to a smaller degree, so she could portray a young Meredith.{{cite web|url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/58-things-learned-james-gunns-guardians-galaxy-vol-2-commentary/|title=58 Things We Learned from James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' Commentary|last=Hunter|first=Rob|publisher=Film School Rejects|date=August 23, 2017|access-date=May 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824003015/https://filmschoolrejects.com/58-things-learned-james-gunns-guardians-galaxy-vol-2-commentary/|archive-date=August 24, 2017|url-status=live}} |
2017
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | In this swashbuckler, Johnny Depp, who plays the main character Captain Jack Sparrow, is de-aged for a flashback scene, with Anthony De La Torre standing in for him while wearing a digital replication of Depp's face depicting him as he looked back in 21 Jump Street (1987–1991) and What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). |
2017
| Colin Firth was de-aged for a flashback scene, years before the events of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). |
2018
| Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Laurence Fishburne who play Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne and Bill Foster, respectively, are de-aged in flashback sequences. |
2018
| Aquaman | Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman are de-aged through CGI, to portray Arthur Curry's parents, Thomas Curry and Atlanna, in opening scenes set during his childhood. In addition, CGI was used to de-age Willem Dafoe for the scene where Nuidis Vulko trains a young Arthur. |
2019
| Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg, who portray Nick Fury and Phil Coulson, are de-aged by 23 years for the entire film as it is set in 1995 (but filmed in 2018), whereas the previous films in which they had appeared in these roles had all been set in the present day. In Jackson's case, according to LolaVFX supervisor Trent Claus, they watched several of Jackson's films from the 1990s to determine which ones they would use as visual reference, ultimately mainly choosing One Eight Seven (1997) and bits of Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).{{cite web | url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/captain-marvel-de-aging-by-lolavfx/ | title=Captain Marvel De-Aging by LolaVFX | first=Mike | last=Seymour | date=March 18, 2019 | work=fxGuide | access-date=2019-04-29 }} |
2019
| Multiple actors were digitally de-aged for different sequences. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner were digitally de-aged for their 2012 appearances that recreate scenes from The Avengers (2012) in which they respectively portray Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton.{{Cite web|url=http://www.appocalypse.co/entertainment/avengers-endgame-vfx-breakdown-de-aging/|title=Avengers: Endgame VFX Supervisor Talks Aging & De-Aging Effects|last=Sonak|first=Divij|date=May 19, 2019|website=Appocalypse.com|access-date=July 30, 2019|archive-date=July 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730065401/http://www.appocalypse.co/entertainment/avengers-endgame-vfx-breakdown-de-aging/|url-status=dead}} Michael Douglas, John Slattery and Stan Lee were also digitally de-aged for their 1970s appearances, in which they respectively portray Hank Pym, Howard Stark and a car driver, the latter being Lee's final cameo role. The final cut of the film features 200 de-aging and aging shots.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/avengers-endgame-200-aging-de-aging-vfx-shots-1227747|title='Avengers: Endgame' Contains 200 Aging and De-Aging VFX Shots|last=Giardina|first=Carloyn|date=July 29, 2019|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=July 30, 2019}} |
2019
| Horror sequel in which child actors Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff and Jackson Robert Scott are digitally de-aged to reprise their roles from It (2017) in flashback scenes, having visibly aged in the two-year interval.{{cite web |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/stephen-king-requested-completely-new-scene-it-chapter-2 |title=It: Chapter Two features de-aged kids and a new scene direct from Stephen King |last=Oller |first=Jacob |publisher=Syfy |date=August 1, 2019 |access-date=August 6, 2019}} |
2019
| In this science fiction film, actor Will Smith is de-aged to portray a younger clone of his character.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/04/martin-scorsese-ang-lee-digital-aging-the-irishman-gemini-man-1201952224/|title=Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' and Ang Lee's 'Gemini Man' - IndieWire|first=Bill|last=Desowitz|work=IndieWire|date=April 13, 2018|access-date=July 31, 2019}} |
2019
| In this epic crime film, actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are digitally de-aged to portray younger versions of Frank Sheeran, Jimmy Hoffa and Russell Bufalino respectively. |
2021
| In this comedic sequel, Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are de-aged in a flashback. |
2021
| Cruella | Emma Thompson as Baroness von Hellman, Mark Strong as John and Emily Beecham as Catherine are all de-aged for the flashback sequence of how Estella Miller / Cruella de Vil was born. |
2021
| Candyman | Tony Todd, reprising his role as the original Candyman, appears de-aged at the end of the film. |
2021
| Woody Harrelson and Naomie Harris are de-aged as their characters Cletus Kasady / Carnage and Frances Barrison / Shriek respectively for the opening and flashback sequences featuring their characters when they lived at Ravencroft. |
2021
| Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina reprised their roles as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin and Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus, respectively, and were both de-aged by 19 and 17 years respectively to match their younger appearances from Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004), respectively.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alfred-molina-spider-man-no-way-home-doc-ock-1234953527/|title = Alfred Molina Details Doc Ock's Return in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home': 'The Tentacles do All the Work' (EXCLUSIVE)|date = 16 April 2021}}{{Cite news|last=Giardina|first=Carolyn|date=January 7, 2022|title=How 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' VFX Team Brought Back Villains From the Multiverse|work=The Hollywood Reporter|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/spider-man-no-way-home-vfx-villains-reunion-1235069915/|access-date=January 9, 2022}} |
2022
| Scream | Skeet Ulrich reprises his role of Billy Loomis from the original Scream (1996), de-aged to appear as he did in 1996, in scenes featuring his daughter Sam Carpenter hallucinating with him due to him being her biological father. |
2022
| In this science fiction film, actress Catherine Keener is de-aged to portray a younger version of her character. |
2022
| The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Nicolas Cage portrays Nicky Cage, a figment of Cage's imagination, seen as a younger Wild at Heart (1990)-era version of himself. |
2022
| Acharya | A de-aged Chiranjeevi appears as a younger version of his character in a flashback scene. |
2022
| Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers | A de-aged Paula Abdul appears as herself in a flashback scene. |
2022
| Isabelle Fuhrman, who portrays Esther, was de-aged with practical effects to make her appear the same age she was in the original film. The techniques used include forced perspective shots, camera angles, and makeup. |
2022
| A de-aged Sylvester Stallone appears in a flashback scene. |
2022
| Lifemark | Kirk Cameron and Rebecca Rogers, who play Jimmy and Susan Colton; the adoptive parents of the main character David Colton, were de-aged to make them look roughly 20 years younger to depict them at around the age that Jimmy and Susan would have been when they first adopted David in flashback scenes.{{cite news|title=4 Things You Should Know about Lifemark, the Kendricks' Uplifting Movie about Adoption|url=https://www.crosswalk.com/culture/features/things-you-should-know-about-lifemark-the-kendricks-uplifting-movie-about-adoption.html|date=August 26, 2022|last=Foust|first=Michael|work=Crosswalk.com|accessdate=September 3, 2022}} |
2022
| In this Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film starring Aamir Khan and directed by Advait Chandan, Shah Rukh Khan appears in a cameo appearance, playing a teenage version of himself. He was de-aged to portray the teenage version. |
2022
| Stephen Lang, Matt Gerald and Giovanni Ribisi are respectively de-aged to match their appearances as Miles Quaritch, Lyle Wainfleet and Parker Selfridge in Avatar (2009) for video recordings the Avatar Recombinants of the former two see that took place prior to the first film's climax. Sigourney Weaver is also de-aged to match her appearance as Dr. Grace Augustine from the original film in a dream sequence her Avatar's daughter Kiri experiences when connecting to Eywa. |
2023
| Like in Scream (2022), Skeet Ulrich reprises his role of Billy Loomis from the original Scream (1996), de-aged to appear as he did in 1996, in scenes featuring his daughter Sam Carpenter hallucinating with him due to him being her biological father. |
2023
| Fast X | Joaquim de Almeida is de-aged to reprise his role as Hernan Reyes for flashback sequences taking place during the events of Fast Five (2011), for which Jason Momoa is de-aged as well due to the tenth film's retconning of his character Dante Reyes, Hernan's son, in the fifth film. |
2023
| Michael Shannon is de-aged for the alternate 2013 timeline created by Barry Allen / The Flash to match his appearance as Zod in Man of Steel (2013). Helen Slater and Nicolas Cage are also de-aged for the film for their respective cameos as Supergirl from the 1984 film of the same name and Superman from the unproduced film Superman Lives. |
2023
| Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Harrison Ford is de-aged for the film's opening sequence, which consists of a World War II flashback of Indiana Jones fighting Nazis set in 1944, for which Ford was de-aged back to how he looked during the release period of the first three Indiana Jones films to recapture the feeling that the footage was shot in the 1980s. To achieve this, Industrial Light & Magic trawled archive material of a younger Ford and matched it with freshly shot footage in addition to giving Ford the original jacket he used in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Ford was "spooked" a bit with the result, but anyway impressed for its realism, yet affirmed that the technology didn't make him feel nostalgia for his youth. Impressionist Anthony Ingruber served as the character's on-set body double before Ford's likeness and voice were inserted over him through CGI.{{cite web |last=Tangcay |first=Jazz |title='Indiana Jones 5': It Took 100+ VFX Industrial Light and Magic Artists to De-Age Harrison Ford |url=https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/indiana-jones-5-deaging-harrison-ford-1235663264/ |website=Variety |access-date=July 29, 2023 |date=July 7, 2023}} Mads Mikkelsen was also de-aged to portray his character Dr. Jürgen Voller younger, but through a different method.{{cite magazine |last=Ford |first=Rebecca |title=Mads Mikkelsen on His Indiana Jones De-Aging: 'I Sense a Smell of Plastic' |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/05/mads-mikkelsen-on-his-indiana-jones-de-aging-interview |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 29, 2023 |date=May 21, 2023}} |
2023
| Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | Esai Morales is slightly de-aged as Gabriel for a brief flashback scene of Ethan Hunt's past where it is revealed how Gabriel murdered his wife, thus leading him to join the IMF in the first place. While Tom Cruise appears in the scene as well, his youthful appearance didn't require director Christopher McQuarrie to de-age him as well.{{cite web |last=McPherson |first=Chris |title='Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning' Almost Opened With a De-Aged Tom Cruise Flashback |url=https://collider.com/mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-part-one-deaged-tom-cruise/ |website=Collider |access-date=June 15, 2025 |date=July 13, 2025}} |
2024
| A Legend | In this Hong Kong Chinese-language action film starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong, He is de-aged for the film's opening sequence with younger version of his character in a flashback scene. |
2024
| Lead actor Vijay portrays a dual role in the flim in which he plays one of the role as his own son using the de-aging technology across two phases with one as a teenager aging between 15-18 and another as the main antagonist aging between 22-25. |
2024
| In this sequel to Tim Burton's original Beetlejuice (1988) film, Michael Keaton and Monica Bellucci are de-aged for the film's flashback about the history between their characters Betelgeuse and Delores back when they briefly married during the Black Plague. |
2024
| Here | Tom Hanks and Robin Wright are de-aged for director Robert Zemeckis's film adaptation of Richard McGuire's comic strip "Here" (2014): «The new technology that’s being deployed on “Here” is called Metaphysics Live. The tool creates high-resolution photorealistic face-swaps and de-aging effects on top of actors’ performances live and in real-time without the need for further compositing or VFX work». |
2024
| In this sequel to Ridley Scott's original Gladiator (2000) film, Connie Nielsen is de-aged as Lucilla for the film's flashback sequence that takes place during the first one's ending, with the likeness of a young Spencer Treat Clark (who was recast with Paul Mescal in the sequel) also being superimposed over that of Alfie Tempest as the former's character Lucius. |
2024
| In this Star Trek short film, William Shatner is de-aged to reprise his role as James T. Kirk, along with Sam Witwer providing the physical performance as Kirk with Shatner's likeness superimposed, opposite a digital recreation of Leonard Nimoy as Spock, with the approval of Shatner and Susan Nimoy, |
2025
| {{ill|Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan|fr}} | For a cameo taking place in the 1970s, singer Sylvie Vartan is de-aged from 80 to her 20s, appearing interviewed by the main character, both journalist and a fan.{{cite web |date=April 4, 2025 |title="Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan" : une scène "ratée" du film avec Leïla Bekhti choque la Toile |access-date=May 13, 2025 |lang=fr |url=https://www.public.fr/ma-mere-dieu-et-sylvie-vartan-une-scene-ratee-du-film-avec-leila-bekhti-choque-la-toile |website=public.fr}}. |
2025
| {{ill|Le Routard|fr|Le Routard (film)}} | Christian Clavier, famous since the 1970s, is de-aged in some flashbacks.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdsU4OGnnZs Christian Clavier : ce qu'il pense du cinéma français], Brut, April 1st 2025. |
2025
| Gabriel Byrne, Ian McShane and Anjelica Huston are de-aged as the Chancellor, Winston Scott and the Director respectively for the film's opening sequence before the main plot. |
2025
| F1 | Brad Pitt is de-aged as Sonny Hayes in some of the film's flashback sequences.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}} |
2026
| The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection | Jim Caviezel will be de-aged with the same modern technology employed in The Irishman (2019) to reprise his role as Jesus Christ, as he needs to look three days older to how old he looked in The Passion of the Christ (2004), as the sequel will tell the events surrounding the Resurrection of Jesus.{{cite web|url=https://collider.com/the-passion-of-the-christ-sequel-update-de-aged-jesus-jim-caviezel/|website=Collider|title=Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' Sequel Will De-Age Jesus|first=Chris|last=McPherson|date=April 25, 2025|accessdate=April 26, 2025}} |
List of television series
The following is a list of television series, in chronological order of release, that employ de-aging techniques:
Virtual actors in motion pictures
In some cases, a young version of a character is not played by the original actor but by a virtual actor, even though the actor being represented is usually still alive. This is usually accomplished with some combination of CGI, a body double, and a voice double or archival audio. Examples of actors who were replaced by virtual actors to portray their younger selves include:
=List of films=
=List of television series=
class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Actor ! scope="col" | Series ! scope="col" | Season ! scope="col" | Episode ! scope="col" class="unsortable" style="white-space:nowrap" | Description |
align="center" | 2020
| rowspan="2" align="center" | Mark Hamill | align="center" | The Mandalorian | align="center" | Season 2 | align="center" | "Chapter 16: The Rescue" | In "Chapter 16: The Rescue", the sixteenth episode of The Mandalorian (2019–present), a young Mark Hamill's likeness as Luke Skywalker from the decade following Return of the Jedi (1983) is digitally recreated; Max Lloyd Jones served as body double, while Hamill's younger voice was recreated using speech synthesis through machine learning. |
align="center" | 2021
| colspan="2" align="center" | The Book of Boba Fett | align="center" | "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger" | In "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger", the sixth episode of The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022), Hamill's likeness as Skywalker is recreated again; Graham Hamilton was the on-set performer for the character. Skywalker was largely created through visual effects and synthesized speech based on reference images and recordings, respectively, of Hamill. |
align="center" | 2022
| align="center" | Millie Bobby Brown | align="center" | Stranger Things | colspan="2" align="center" | Season 4 | In the fourth season of Stranger Things (2016–present), a younger pre–Stranger Things Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper ("El") was digitally recreated, with Martie Blair serving as her body double. Blair stood-in for the 9-year-old version of Eleven, with her face digitally replaced with Brown's own in post-production.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/stranger-things-millie-bobby-brown-eleven-upside-down-vecna-1235296870/|title='Stranger Things' Star Millie Bobby Brown on Young Eleven and Whether She Created the Upside Down|last=Vary|first=Adam B.|work=Variety|date=June 17, 2022|access-date=July 27, 2022}} |
align="center" | 2025
|align="center" | Roseanne Barr | align="center" | The Conners | align="center" | Season 7 | align="center" | "The Truck Stops Here" | In the final season of The Conners, a sequel series to Roseanne (2018-present), a Dan finds looking for couch with his deceased wife Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner was digitally recreated, with Heidi Pascoe serving as her body double. Pascoe stood-in for the dream version of Roseanne Conner, with her face digitally replaced with Barr's in post-production. |
References
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{{cite news | author=Staff | url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/x-men_extreme_makeover | title=X-Men: Extreme Makeover | work=Fxguide | access-date=May 30, 2017 }}
{{cite magazine | last=Giardina | first=Carolyn | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/how-captain-america-civil-war-892387 | title=How {{'}}Captain America: Civil War{{'}} Turned Robert Downey Jr. Back Into a Teen | magazine=The Hollywood Reporter | date=May 10, 2016 | access-date=May 30, 2017 }}
{{cite magazine | last=Giardina | first=Carolyn | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/pirates-5-guardians-2-vfx-technique-de-aging-1008206 | title=Johnny Depp to Kurt Russell: How 'De-Aging' Stars Became Hollywood's VFX Trick Du Jour | magazine=The Hollywood Reporter | date=May 30, 2017 | access-date=May 30, 2017 }}
{{cite news | last=Gonzales | first=Dave | url=https://www.geek.com/geek-cetera/how-terminator-genisys-made-a-synthespian-of-young-arnold-schwarzenegger-1626902 | title=How Terminator: Genisys made a 'synthespian' of young Arnold Schwarzenegger | work=Geek.com | date=July 4, 2015 | access-date=May 30, 2017 }}
{{cite news | last=Merry | first=Stephanie | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/hollywoods-latest-beauty-trend-digitally-retouching-an-actors-face/2016/03/18/b4e4b85e-e61d-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html | title=Hollywood's secret beauty trick: The special effects facelift | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=March 18, 2016 | access-date=May 30, 2017 }}
{{cite magazine | last=Rabin | first=Nathan | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/03/logan-x-men-origins-wolverine-hugh-jackman-patrick-stewart-deadpool | title=How X-Men Origins: Wolverine Paved the Way for Logan by Being So Terrible | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=March 7, 2017 | access-date=December 18, 2018 | quote=He’s supposed to be playing a younger version of Professor Xavier, but the C.G.I. employed is so jarringly off that he looks about as human as Jar Jar Binks. }}
{{cite magazine | last=Robinson | first=Joanna | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/12/robert-de-niro-digital-facelift-the-irishman-martin-scorsese | title=Robert De Niro Is the Next Acting Legend to Get a Dramatic C.G.I. Facelift | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=December 20, 2016 | access-date=December 18, 2018 }}
{{cite web|url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-bugs-wife-ant-man-and-the-wasp/|title=A Bug's Wife: Ant-Man and the Wasp|last=Seymour|first=Mike|publisher=Fxguide|date=July 16, 2018|access-date=July 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717212559/https://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-bugs-wife-ant-man-and-the-wasp/|archive-date=July 17, 2018|url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url=https://metro.co.uk/2018/12/12/aquaman-review-jason-momoas-superhero-is-flawed-but-a-lot-of-fun-8232769//|title=Aquaman review: Jason Momoa's superhero is flawed but a lot of fun|last=Luxford|first=James|publisher=Metro|date=December 12, 2018|access-date=December 24, 2018}}
{{Cite web |last=Travis |first=Ben |title=Indiana Jones 5{{’}}s Opening Sequence De-Ages Harrison Ford To Original Trilogy Indy – Exclusive |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/indiana-jones-5-opening-sequence-de-ages-harrison-ford-exclusive/ |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=Empire|date=21 November 2022 }}
{{Cite web |last=Rubin |first=Rebecca |title=Tom Hanks and Robin Wright Will Be Digitally De-Aged in New Robert Zemeckis Movie |url=https://variety.com/2023/film/news/tom-hanks-robin-wright-digitally-deaged-robert-zemeckis-movie-1235507766/ |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=Variety|date=31 January 2023 }}
}}