James Earl Jones sadly passed away this week at 93, leaving an amazing legacy as an actor. His iconic voice lent gravitas to the CNN tag, Mufasa in The Lion King, and, most famously, Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. But, thanks to some foresight by Jones and Star Wars owner Disney, his voice could very well return in future projects performing all-new lines.
Though Jones is credited with Darth Vader’s voice from the original Star Wars in 1977 until now, his interest in stepping back from working led to some AI assistance in his most recent Vader performance in the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series. Disney unsurprisingly wanted to make sure Darth Vader sounded like Jones in the show. 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 how he sounded but read from a new script. It’s similar to how Respeecher replicated the voice of video game actor Miłogost Reczek for Cyberpunk 2077.
Deepfaking celebrity voices has rapidly become popular as the technology has improved and the price has fallen. Jones was one of the first actors of his stature to actually work out a contract for how and when his AI voice clone could be used, even after he passed away. Deciding to pursue the option at all took some time, according to reporting at the time. Disney and Lucasfilm wanted vocal consistency but knew it could alienate fans if they felt Jones wasn’t okay with it. In the end, Jones’ AI voice replica sounded nearly indistinguishable from him in the 1970s, though the distorted Vader voice may have smoothed over any bumps.
The voice of the Force
Many actors worry that AI will eventually render human performances obsolete, especially in industries like video games, where voice actors are already facing significant challenges. This was a question during both the screen actors’ strike and the video game voice actors’ strike that followed. In both cases, actors demanded stronger protections against AI replication of their performances.
In Jones’ case, the actor gave explicit approval for his voice to be used in perpetuity through AI, but not every performer has his clout with the production companies. It's not just Respeecher offering AI voice clones of celebrities. 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 estates of the actors. But, as Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson can attest, not everyone asks before making an AI clone.
With James Earl Jones, what matters most may be if fans feel the connection to Darth Vader when the role is performed by his AI duplicate that so many have felt when hearing the actor speak the lines. A brief speech is one thing, but a starring role for the AI voice of Jones might not go down as well. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
