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In an era that is increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, Mercy asks a provocative question: What happens when technology becomes judge, jury, and executioner? For Rebecca Ferguson, who plays an AI judge in the upcoming sci-fi thriller, the film feels unsettlingly close to reality.
Rebecca Ferguson On Playing An AI Judge In Mercy
“Playing Judge Maddox, an AI who is on the cusp of human understanding — so near to consciousness and yet light years away from being human — brings up many interesting questions,” Ferguson says. “We expect accuracy from technology, but more and more we need to question what the online world is telling us.”
Set in a near-future premise where human courts have been replaced by an AI-run justice system, the movie Mercy unfolds almost entirely within a high-stakes trial. Evidence is pulled not from witnesses or lawyers, but from a unique and vast digital archive the film calls the ‘LA Municipal Cloud’ — a system that decisively stores everything from surveillance footage to personal device recordings.
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Rebecca Ferguson Depicts AI As A Mere Tool To Aid Humans
For Rebecca Ferguson, the role in Mercy wasn’t about playing a machine, but exploring the illusion of objectivity that technology often promises to mankind. Her AI judge’s character is designed to be neutral, mostly data-driven, and emotionless — yet the film slowly challenges the idea of whether such purity can truly exist.
“Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it should always be just that — a tool to aid humans, not an alternative to humans,” Ferguson says. “This film highlights some of the ways relying on AI could go very wrong.”
Mercy: Plot & Storyline
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Mercy experiments not just with ideas but also with the form and origin of things. Much of the film’s evidence is presented through phone footage, body cams, drone cameras, and surveillance feeds, reflecting a world where almost every moment is recorded and stored. So, there is no escape. The result is a thriller that feels corely embedded in the digital reality mankind already inhabits. Chris Pratt also stars in the film.
At the centre of that world stands Rebecca Ferguson’s Judge Maddox — calm, composed, decisive, and eerily authoritative. As the AI begins to exhibit traces of something resembling empathy, the film pushes viewers to confront uncomfortable questions about trust, honesty, truth, and control in the age of algorithms. “We’re handing over so much power to systems we don’t fully understand,” Rebecca Ferguson concludes. “And that’s where the danger lies.”
Check Out The Official Trailer For Mercy Below:
Sony Pictures Entertainment and Amazon MGM Studios release Mercy on January 23, 2026.
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