Star Wars viewers aren’t keen on the idea of Darth Vader being played by someone else, but they’re also not keen on this idea either…
Darth Vader stands amongst some of film’s most iconic villains, and yes I’m saying villain because that’s what he was for the majority of his life, regardless of his transition back to the light in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi.
We have two men to thank for that, the late David Prowse who played Darth Vader physically, and the late James Earl Jones who provided his beloved voice.
James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader in all of his live-action film and TV appearances, but what some viewers might not know is that the voice you hear in the Kenobi TV series isn’t actually him. It’s actually an AI replication of his voice.
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In 2022 Jame Earl Jones agreed to LucasFilm using archived audio of his Darth Vader performances to create new voice lines through AI. This means for the foreseeable future the late actor will continue to play Vader.
The revelation has left Star Wars fans torn ever since it was first announced, but many are slowly coming around to the idea, largely due to James Earl Jones signing off on it himself.
“Controversial, but honestly, I think this is a good use of AI” began one fan in a Reddit thread. “As far as I understand it, James Earl Jones still gets paid any time they use his AI voice, and in the event of his death, his estate and family get the money.
“I wouldn’t approve of someone just having their voice taken and used without being paid for it, but in the case of retired or retiring actors, I think it’s beneficial.”
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Others were less convinced, worrying that it’s a bad omen for the future of the film industry, where talented actors and actresses lose out to artificial creations.
“And eventually it will just be entirely AI voices that are entirely generated and not based on anyone in particular, and then no actor gets paid at all” said one commenter.
Personally I don’t mind the AI voice, as again James Earl Jones signed off on the idea himself with Vader always being in his suit, an artificial voiceover was always going to be needed anyway.
Topics: Star Wars, TV And Film, Disney, Lucasfilm