AI-Generated Sci-Fi Series ‘Space Nation’ and ‘Kira’ Bring Completed Pilots to MIPCOM 2026
Generative AI is moving beyond concept reels and proof-of-concept footage as Ex Machina Studios prepares to put two completed science-fiction television pilots in front of international buyers at MIPCOM 2026.
Ex Machina Studios and worldwide sales partner K5 International will world-premiere the completed pilot episodes of Space Nation and Kira during the television market in Cannes, which runs Oct. 12-15. The companies say the screenings mark the first time fully produced, AI-generated series episodes — rather than previews or concept reels — have been presented to buyers at a major international market.
The distinction makes the screenings a potentially significant test for an entertainment industry still determining where generative AI fits within traditional film and television production.
Both pilots will screen for accredited buyers Oct. 12 and Oct. 13 at Cinéma Les Arcades near the Palais des Festivals, giving distributors and other industry representatives an opportunity to evaluate finished episodes rather than promises of what an AI-assisted production pipeline might eventually deliver.
Space Nation is further along in that commercial process.
First introduced to buyers at MIPCOM 2025, the eight-episode science-fiction drama returns one year later with its 45-minute pilot completed and Brazilian streaming service Globoplay attached as a co-producer. Globoplay acquired Brazilian rights at the Cannes market in May 2026, with the project becoming a Globoplay Original in the territory.
Set in the near future, Space Nation follows a new generation of elite pilots tasked with defending humanity as Earth confronts an overwhelming alien threat. The young aviators are thrown into combat that tests their loyalty, courage and relationships as the larger fight for humanity’s survival unfolds.
The series was created by Ex Machina Studios co-founder and CEO Marco Weber and filmmaker Martin Weisz, with Weisz directing all eight episodes. Vanessa Coifman wrote the series and serves as an executive producer alongside Weber.
Ex Machina is producing the project in Los Angeles in what the company describes as active alignment with Hollywood guilds. Utopai Studios and Globoplay are attached as co-producers, while K5 International handles worldwide sales.
Kira represents a different side of Ex Machina’s expanding AI-generated slate.
Announced in August, the six-part French production is an epic science-fiction fantasy created and directed by Lyon-born filmmaking duo Damien Steck and Julien Petit. Its completed 35-minute pilot will screen publicly for industry buyers for the first time at MIPCOM as K5 opens international pre-sales.
Set in the distant future on a living planet called Djena, Kira centers on a young girl traveling through a constantly changing landscape populated by rival factions. Her journey to locate her missing father gradually becomes tied to a larger mission to restore balance to the world around her.
Steck and Petit wrote the series with Moritz Weber, while Marco Weber serves as executive producer.
While the technology behind both productions will inevitably draw attention, K5 International CEO Daniel Baur is positioning the projects as filmmaker-led productions rather than demonstrations of generative AI technology.
“A year after we first introduced Space Nation at MIPCOM, we return to Cannes with a completed pilot, Globoplay on board as co-producer and a second series, Kira, alongside it,” Baur said. “Both are filmmaker-driven series — strong scripts, distinct worlds, directors with a clear vision — produced with generative AI and screening as finished episodes.”
The two projects arrive as generative AI remains one of the entertainment industry’s most closely watched and contested technological developments. Much of the discussion has centered on how the technology could affect creative labor, intellectual property and established production pipelines. MIPCOM provides Ex Machina and K5 with a considerably more practical test: whether international television buyers see a commercially viable product when the finished episodes are actually put on a theater screen.
According to the companies, K5 is currently the only international sales company representing a full slate of AI-generated television series and feature films.
That slate extends beyond Space Nation and Kira.
Ex Machina has also partnered with Mayfair Media Group on theatrical projects including Roger Avary’s Paradise Lost and Alex Proyas’ Heaven, both scheduled for release in 2027. K5 International is handling worldwide sales across the slate.
The MIPCOM screenings therefore represent more than a showcase for two pilots. They offer an early look at whether generative AI can move from experimental shorts, promotional demonstrations and development-stage concepts into longer-form productions capable of competing within the established international sales market.
The response from buyers could prove more revealing than the technology itself.
Space Nation and Kira will screen in continuous rotation for accredited buyers at Cinéma Les Arcades, Salle 2, in Cannes. Screenings are scheduled from 10 a.m.-noon and 5-7 p.m. on both Monday, Oct. 12 and Tuesday, Oct. 13. No RSVP is required for accredited buyers.
MIPCOM 2026 runs Oct. 12-15 in Cannes, France.
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