Newsletters
Prime Video began streaming “Castle Walls” (“Surlar”), a two-episode historical drama from Turkish production company Ay Yapim, worldwide on Aug. 12. Each episode runs about 15 minutes. The series is available in the United States and other markets alongside the platform’s conventional series and films.
The story draws on the legend of Alamut Castle, a mountain fortress in present-day Iran that also appears in the video game “Assassin’s Creed Mirage." Kerem Deren and Cisil Hazal Tenim wrote the script. The two previously worked together on the series “El Turco."
Ay Yapim made the drama through AI Yapim, its AI-focused subsidiary based in Singapore. Ay Yapim has won three International Emmys. Its catalog includes “Endless Love” (“Kara Sevda”), the first Turkish series to win an International Emmy.
According to the company, the production combined ChatGPT for prompt enhancement and creative development, an in-house storyboard system and AYDNA, a video diffusion model trained exclusively on Ay Yapim’s licensed content catalog. AI Yapim describes the series as the first end-to-end AI-generated drama to launch on a major global streaming platform.
Turkish technology outlet Webrazzi reported that development took more than a year and involved Hagia Labs, an AI and creative technology company. The team built the first episode shot by shot using a method known as inpainting. The same report says the second episode used more advanced generative AI tools. The project was first announced in October 2025.
Ay Yapim states that the acting performances are not AI-generated and that human voice actors dubbed the series into every language. The company has not disclosed the budget, any cost savings or the hours of human labor involved, according to Spanish outlet Emprendedor.
Entertainment news site The Ankler reported that Amazon has also acquired an AI-generated spinoff film of Ay Yapim’s crime series “The Pit” (“Cukur”). Turkish media reports identify the film as “The Pit: Vartolu” (“Cukur: Vartolu”), which AI Yapim is preparing for worldwide release on Prime Video.
The film focuses on the backstory of Vartolu, one of the series’ best-known characters. Umut Aral directs, and Gokhan Horzum, the original series' head writer across its four seasons, wrote the script. No release date or cast has been announced.
“The Pit” aired on the Turkish channel Show TV from Oct. 23, 2017, and ran for four seasons. Turkish reports say it reached viewers in 105 countries.
Amazon MGM Studios announced earlier this year that it is developing three AI-powered animated series for Prime Video, including “Punky Duck."
Amazon has not announced release dates for those projects, and “Castle Walls” is one of the first AI-produced scripted series to reach a major global streaming service.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
2 min read
