James Earl Jones sadly passed away this week at the age of 93, leaving behind an incredible legacy as an actor. His iconic voice gave gravitas to CNN's Mufasa in the film The Lion King, and, most famously, Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. But, thanks to the foresight of Jones and Star Wars owner Disney, his voice could very well return in future projects performing entirely new lines.
While Jones has been credited with voicing Darth Vader from the first Star Wars film in 1977 until now, his interest in moving away from voice work led him to enlist the help of an AI for his most recent portrayal of Vader in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. Unsurprisingly, Disney wanted to make sure Darth Vader sounded like Jones in the series. So the company worked with Jones and Ukrainian AI voice company Respeecher to turn samples of Jones’ past performances into a voice clone that could recreate his voice, but by reading from a new script. It’s similar to how Respeecher replicated the voice of video game actor Miłogost Reczek for Cyberpunk 2077.
Spoofing celebrity voices has quickly become popular as the technology has improved and the price has come down. Jones was one of the first actors of his stature to come to an agreement on how and when his AI voice clone could be used, even after his passing. According to reports at the time, the decision to move forward with that option took some time. Disney and Lucasfilm wanted vocal consistency, but knew it could alienate fans if they felt Jones didn’t like it. In the end, Jones’ AI voice replica sounded nearly indistinguishable from his 1970s counterpart, though Vader’s distorted voice may have smoothed out any bumps.
The voice of strength
Many actors are concerned that AI will eventually make human performances obsolete, especially in industries like gaming, where voice actors already face significant challenges. This was a question raised during both the film actors strike and the video game voice actors strike that followed. In both cases, actors demanded greater protections against having their performances reproduced by AI.
In Jones’ case, the actor gave explicit approval for his voice to be used in perpetuity via AI, but not all performers have their say in production companies. It’s not just Respeecher that offers AI clones of celebrity voices. ElevenLabs recently debuted AI versions of the voices of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier for its Reader app. As with Jones, the company got permission to do so — in this case, from the actors’ estates. But as Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson can attest, not everyone asks before making an AI clone.
With James Earl Jones, what matters most is whether fans feel the connection to Darth Vader when the role is played by his AI double, which so many have felt when hearing the actor say the lines. A short speech is one thing, but a starring role for Jones' AI voice might not be so well-received. Examine your feelings. You know it's true.
