James Earl Jones allows AI to take over his iconic Darth Vader voice

Virgin Radio

26 Sep 2022, 09:48

As movie baddies go, there can be few more iconic than Darth Vader. Now, with James Earl Jones - the actor responsible for the instantly recognisable voice - reportedly taking a step back from the role, AI technology will be responsible for providing the Sith Lord’s words.

James Earl Jones, who is now 91, has reportedly signed the voice rights to his archival voice work as Darth over to Lucasfilm and Ukrainian company Respeecher. The company uses archival recordings and an AI algorithm to create new dialogue. 

Matthew Wood of Lucasfilm told Vanity Fair: “He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character.” 

“So how do we move forward?” he questioned. 

It turns out that the way forward was through working with Respeecher. Wood explained that there are plenty of recordings to work with from over the years: “For a character such as Darth Vader, who might have 50 lines on a show, I might have a back-and-forth of almost over 10,000 files,” he said.

The way it works is that sound bites can be used to “clone” an actor’s voice, which means that new lines can be recorded without the actor needing to be present.

Respeecher worked with Lucasfilm to provide the voice of a young Luke Skywalker in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and the company then used the same AI technology when working on Darth Vader’s lines in the new series Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

British actor David Prowse wore the famous black uniform/helmet of the villain when he debuted in the first Star Wars film in 1977, but it was James Earl Jones who provided the voice. 

Darth Vader would go on to become one of the most notorious antagonists in movie history.

If you noticed that the Darth Vader in Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi sounded more like he did back in Episode I: A New Hope, as opposed to 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, then it’s down to the AI technology.