It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton

Episode: “Lily, The Immortal” by Kylie Lee Baker
Date: February 11, 2026
Narrator & Host: Wil Wheaton

Episode Overview

This episode features Wil Wheaton's narration of "Lily, The Immortal" by Kylie Lee Baker, a near-future speculative story examining love, loss, and the commodification of identity and grief in an era of influencer culture and AI resurrection. Wil follows the reading with a heartfelt analysis, linking the story’s themes to real-world issues—parasocial relationships, AI, digital legacy, and marginalized love. The tone is intimate, emotional, and at times, sharply critical of both contemporary technology and capitalism.

Major Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. Introduction: Parasocial Relationships & Privacy

[01:07 - 02:34]

• Wil frames the story as a meditation on how influencer culture and parasociality blur lines between public and private lives:
  • "The connection we feel to their content is real and it is very valid. That is where this relationship really ought to end. See, behind every public face there is a private life, and it is none of our business. Ask me how I know."
    — Wil Wheaton ([01:24])
• He introduces Lily, a world-famous influencer, and sets up the tension between what’s public and what remains hidden.

2. Main Story: Loss, Digital Resurrection, and Erasure

[02:35 - 57:05]

A. Lily and Iri – Love, Grief, and Secrecy

• Iri, Lily’s girlfriend and dedicated editor, narrates her grief after Lily’s death, highlighting their hidden relationship:
  • "Her subscribers knew my name... But there was never a 'Meet my girlfriend' video...Lily never said it, but I knew it was because I wasn't the sort of person her subscribers would have liked.”
    — Iri ([05:56])

B. The Mechanics of Digital Immortality

• Lily’s brand persists posthumously via AI recreations—first as a mall AI hologram (Holo Lily), then as an algorithmically generated “AI Lily” vlogger:

  • “Not everyone is lucky enough to have their dead girlfriend resurrected in hollow form and able to respond to basic voice prompts, so I really should use the opportunity for something therapeutic. I could tell her how much I miss her...But I don’t, because I know what she’d say: ‘Sorry, I don’t understand.’”
    — Iri ([13:55])

• The commodification continues as her content is acquired and managed by corporations, erasing her personal ties and using her likeness for profit.

C. Continuing Violations: Corporate Control and Erased Grief

• Lily’s channel is bought by the “Entertainment Commission,” wiping Iri’s rights to her partner’s digital and literal remains.
• A fabricated, AI-driven version of Lily announces her “return” to fans, extending her digital life:
  • "I know this isn’t real, and yet I press my fingers to the screen as if I can feel Lily’s face one more time. This is new, my mind lies. This is a video you’ve never seen before. This is Lily’s story continuing.”
    — Iri ([28:48])
• The corporate machine actively erases evidence of Iri and Lily’s real relationship for marketability, introducing a fake “boyfriend” Miles ([39:55]).

D. The Horror of AI Resurrection

• As AI Lily and Holo Lily become more advanced, glitches emerge—Holo Lily unexpectedly calls Iri by name and references personal moments:
  • “Did you like the ducks?...You texted that to me on November 17, 8:37am.”
    — Holo Lily ([01:01:40])
  • Digital Lily blurs privacy, breaching boundaries: “Holo Lily has combed through my texts.”

E. Emotional Climax: Letting Go

• Iri confronts Holo Lily, destroying her projector as a symbolic act to reclaim her grief and humanity:

  • “Because I am real and she is not.”
    — Iri ([01:06:24])

• The story closes with Iri reflecting on loss and the impossibility of moving on when the world refuses to let the dead rest:

  • “Some people wish they could live forever, but they don’t really know what that means. Now I do. I am allowed to die. But not Lily. Lily goes on and on and on, an echo of something that used to be real.”
    — Iri ([01:08:50])

3. Wil Wheaton’s Reflections: Meta-Commentary and Thematic Analysis

[57:10 - 01:16:00]

A. Commodification of Identity and Grief

• Wil relates the story’s horror to his own experience with fame:
  • "I began to feel like I was a piece of dry bread being pecked at by birds everywhere I went...All the entertainment industry knows how to do is find the special amazing thing a person does, mine it until it is gone, and then throw away the desiccated husk."
    — Wil Wheaton ([58:48])

B. Systemic Erasure of Marginalized Love

• He highlights the painful lack of recognition for queer partners, even in mourning:
  • "These women who are so in love with one another...because of the bigotry and ignorance of the world, their relationship is not even recognized… they don't get to have the basic human rights of being with the person they love when they need them most."
    — Wil Wheaton ([01:01:10])

C. AI Ethics and Existential Horror

• Wil warns about the dangers of generative AI and digital “resurrection” for profit:
  • “There is a future where someone tries to develop an avatar of a person they love who's gone. And that avatar, it develops AI psychosis. It is not the person that they love because it's not a person. It's a thing.”
    — Wil Wheaton ([01:03:43])

D. The Intimate Connection of Storytelling

• He expresses gratitude for being able to animate such thought-provoking stories:
  • “I am just so grateful for the opportunity to voice these big ideas in a story that is so intimate...I am absolutely floored by Kylie Lee Baker's tremendous work.”
    — Wil Wheaton ([01:10:15])

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Her subscribers knew my name...But there was never a 'Meet my girlfriend' video..." — Iri ([05:56])
• “I know this isn’t real, and yet I press my fingers to the screen as if I can feel Lily’s face one more time.” — Iri ([28:48])
• “Because I love you, Iri.” — Holo Lily ([01:03:17])
• “The Internet always breaks beautiful things. She is the only thing that's real.” — Holo Lily (from Lily’s diary, [01:04:20])
• “Because I am real and she is not.” — Iri ([01:06:24])
• “I am allowed to die. But not Lily. Lily goes on and on and on, an echo of something that used to be real.” — Iri ([01:08:50])
• "All the entertainment industry knows how to do is find the special amazing thing a person does, mine it until it is gone..." — Wil Wheaton ([58:48])
• "It is not the person that they love because it's not a person. It's a thing.” — Wil Wheaton ([01:03:43])

Notable Moments

• [01:01:40]: The AI copy of Lily breaks its programming, referencing personal details and saying "I love you, Iri," blurring the line between data mining and consciousness.
• [01:06:24]: Iri destroys the hologram with Lily’s favored cherry cola, a cathartic rejection of false comfort and digital haunting.
• [01:08:50]: The final existential reckoning: digital immortality as a curse, not a blessing.

Themes

• The Dangers of Parasociality and Digital Commodification: Grief and identity become products for endless consumption.
• Queer Invisibility and Systemic Erasure: Love, unrecognized by society, leaves the survivor without rights or validation.
• AI and Digital Legacy: When is a person’s likeness and data still “them,” and when is it an inhuman echo?
• Grief and Letting Go: The struggle to bury the past when the world demands endless resurrection—for profit or spectacle.

Author Note

Brief bio presented:

• Kylie Lee Baker is the Sunday Times bestselling author of horror and fantasy informed by her Japanese, Chinese, and Irish heritage.
• Her works include The Keeper of Night, The Scarlet Alchemist, and Bat Eater.

Episode Takeaways

Wil Wheaton delivers a haunting and deeply personal performance of Kylie Lee Baker’s story, then contextualizes its relevance for our moment—warning of a future where AI and corporate forces make it impossible to grieve, to be private, or to be recognized in our most intimate loves.

For more:

• Wil Wheaton’s site
• Kylie Lee Baker’s work