In "Ready Player One", is James Halliday dead?

Question

I just watched the movie adaptation of Ready Player One.

However, I don't understand something about the ending:

Is James Halliday really dead?

Answer 1

We don't know — yet

Ernest Cline has said in an interview that what exactly Anorak has become, will be an important part of the sequel to Ready Player One.

The movie makes it clear that the version of Halliday Wade Watts interacts with in his childhood bedroom isn’t alive. But also states that the figure isn’t an avatar. So what is going on? We asked Ernest Cline — writer of the book and co-writer of the screenplay — to explain all.

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

Ernest Cline: “It’s a mystery, and I’m so happy about that because I talked to [director] Steven [Spielberg] about my potential plans for a sequel novel, which hopefully might serve as the basis for a sequel film, and that mystery of what is Anorak now that Halliday is dead.

“There are clearly NPCs in the OASIS — non-playable characters that are controlled by the system — but Anorak stands alone and he has autonomy, so it remains a mystery. Some sort of ‘ghost in the machine’ was always my idea.”

PLANS FOR ‘READY PLAYER ONE 2’

Cline: “That idea is expanded on in the sequel I’m writing. So it’s still kind of a secret. I made sure to finish a very rough draft before I saw the finished movie because I wanted to have the whole story in my head and didn’t want the movie to influence it.

_{Ernest Cline in an interview with Fandom Wikia}

Answer 2

You've touched upon one of the most intriguing sub-elements of the film, here.

James Halliday physically died, yes. But, the film almost hints that he's somehow become a genuine, artificial intelligence program of himself. Maybe he found a way to insert his consciousness into the Oasis?

The film leaves it hanging.