James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, is retiring

James Earl Jones, who has been none other than the voice of Darth Vader in his original version since the first Star Wars movie released in 1977, has decided to retire. The 91-year-old actor will no longer make new recordings, yet viewers will still be able to hear him thanks to artificial intelligence.

James Earl Jones stops doing Darth Vader

How to continue to have his voice? James Earl Jones has given permission for archival voice recordings to be used by young filmmakers, who plan to use artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology to recreate the actor’s younger voice in his previous films to to use it in future Lucasfilm projects.

“He had mentioned that he was considering ending this particular character”Matthew Wood, a 32-year Lucasfilm veteran, told Vanity Fair. “So how are we going to move forward? », he asks. The production company for the Star Wars movies tapped Respeecher, a Ukrainian startup that uses artificial intelligence technology to create new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings. The relationship between Respeecher and Lucasfilm began with the series The Boba Fett Book on Disney+, for which they recreated the voice of young Luke Skywalker. The two companies also teamed up for Darth Vader’s voice performance in the series. Obi-Wan Kenobi.

After the release of the series Obi-Wan Kenobi, the family of James Earl Jones informed Matthew Wood that they were satisfied with the result of the synthesis between the voice of the actor and the technical work of Respeecher. James Earl Jones is credited with guiding the show’s portrayal of Darth Vader, with Matthew Wood describing the actor as a “benevolent godfather”.

When will we hear James Earl Jones voice again as Darth Vader? It’s a mystery at the moment. But one possibility is the next series Ahsoka on Disney+. It will arrive in 2023. Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, will be in the series. It remains to be seen in what form…