Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's unnerving CGI bringing Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia to life has been greatly improved by a new deepfake video.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's unnerving CGI bringing Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia to life has been greatly improved by a new deepfake video. When Disney revived the Star Wars franchise with new Skywalker saga installments, the studio said they would also expand upon the universe with anthology films focusing on different characters and settings. The first, 2016's Rogue One, tells the story of a ragtag rebel group as they embark on a dangerous mission to obtain the Death Star schematics Leia receives at the start of the original Star Wars. Audiences responded positively to Rogue One, making it one of the few movies of Disney's era to avoid much debate.

Rogue One's placement within the Star Wars timeline, as well as the subject of its plot, resulted in some major character returns. Fans were delighted to see a new Darth Vader action sequence, and quick appearances from Mon Mothma and Bail Organa further cemented Rogue One's place in the overall universe. However, it was Tarkin and Leia's appearances that took audiences by surprise. For Tarkin, it was because actor Peter Cushing passed away in 1994. With Leia, the recreation of a young Carrie Fisher was jarring. CGI was used to bring both New Hope characters into Rogue One.

Despite the relatively impressive special effects that were at work within Rogue One, there were still plenty of fans who stated the CGI in these instances were a bit too much. Those questionable effects have at least been improved upon in this new deepfake from Shamook. Much of the video is spent comparing Rogue One's Tarkin with Shamook's deepfake, though viewers can still see an impressively rendered Leia at the end. Leia, more than anything, looks incredibly realistic. Check it out below.

The differences between the two Tarkins are very plain to see throughout the video. Rogue One's Tarkin attempted to fill out more details on his face: Wrinkles, a slightly darker skin tone, and his hollow cheeks. Some of those finer touches have been smoothed out in the deepfake, which alleviates the uncanny valley feeling found within the original. To be sure, the deepfake still looks more animated than real, but that Tarkin's appearance at least hews closer to Cushing than the one from Rogue One.

This just shows how impressive deepfake technology can be, at least when it's not borderline creepy. The conversation regarding whether one can recreate deceased actors with CGI or successfully de-age a performer is one that has only increased in recent years, and as technology continues to evolve and grow, it can be expected there will be more instances like Rogue One. Perhaps filmmakers should approach these matters as if they were deepfakes; as shown above, it can work just as well as the real thing.

More: Why Rogue One Is The Last Star Wars Movie Without Backlash

Source: Shamook