James Earl Jones, who delivered Darth Vader’s famous, ominous voice for decades, said he would not record new lines for future “Star Wars” ventures.
Instead, Jones’ voice will be artificially preserved by AI software that can reproduce his voice, allowing Vader to deliver new lines of speech while maintaining the powerful bass tone that made him a globally feared villain.
Respeecher, a Ukrainian firm, was entrusted with recreating Jones’ voice from the original trilogy for the latest Disney+ miniseries “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which takes place some years after Anakin Skywalker becomes a Sith lord.
Jones, 91, most recently made a Vader voice appearance for the 2019 sequel “The Rise of Skywalker,” according to sound editor Matthew Wood. According to the publication, the actor agreed to Lucasfilm’s intentions to continue using his voice for Darth Vader in the future using archive recordings and AI-generated dialogue.
“He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character,” Wood told Vanity Fair. “So, how do we move forward?”
Jones was involved in honing Vader’s voice for “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Wood added, guiding the teams involved in replicating his sound and remaining up to speed on Lucasfilm’s future intentions for Vader.
Lucasfilm has previously used AI to resurrect specific characters’ voices; for example, Respeecher was used to fine-tune Luke Skywalker’s youthful voice in “The Book of Boba Fett” on Disney+.
For the prequel film “Rogue One,” Lucasfilm employed CGI to reproduce the look of the late Peter Cushing’s malevolent Grand Moff Tarkin. However, the character’s voice was delivered by actor Guy Henry rather than an AI computer.
Jones, an EGOT winner, has played Darth Vader since 1977’s “A New Hope,” but his performance was uncredited. Since then, he’s performed the voice of Darth Vader in every production where the character appears, from the original movie through the animated series “Star Wars Rebels.”
He’s also listed as Darth Vader in “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” albeit he didn’t record any new lines for the role.