Star Wars Darth Vader voice actor retires, replaced by AI

James Earl Jones is one of the most recognizable voices in Hollywood, and for 45 years, he has been bringing to life the most iconic movie villain, Darth Vader. In the new series recently aired on Disney+, Jones is still credited as the voice of Darth Vader, but in fact, there are a lot of high-tech assistance involved.

Respeecher is an AI program that uses archival recordings and proprietary algorithms to simulate brand new dialogue from performers’ voices from long ago. The company behind the technology recently worked with Lucasfilm to help Disney+ create an Obi-Wan series, simulating the voice of a young James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. They used a similar strategy for Luke Skywalker in The Book of Boba Fett.

Jones, 91, signed the rights to use his voice to Disney. His last recording was for 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Since then, he has officially "retired" from his most legendary role.

While Jones' voice is iconic of Darth Vader, in some cases other voice actors have voiced the character, such as Scott Lawrence and Matt Sloan, who have voiced the character in multiple games.

This isn’t the first time AI has been used to simulate the voice of a deceased person. Last year’s documentary about famous TV host and chef Anthony Bourdain, Nomadland: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, featured the star who committed suicide in 2018. Director Morgan Neville collected audio samples of Bourdain from his TV shows, audiobooks, and podcasts for his narration in the film.