When theStar WarsspinoffObi-Wan Kenobicame out, many presumed that James Earl Jones had returned once again to loan his iconic deep voice as the ever-so-iconic Darth Vader. Although they brought back actors from the prequels, like Ewan McGregor as young Obi-Wan and Hayden Christensen as Anakin, Jones was not brought back, and he won’t be involved in futureStar Warsprojects going forward.
Because Jones is 91 years old, and hence, doesn’t exactly have the same voice he did when he was playing Vader in the originalStar Warstrilogy, he reportedly will no longer voice his most well-known role. Instead of having Jones record dialogue as Darth Vader,theObi-Wan Kenobiproducersultimately had artificial intelligence recreate Jones' voice as Darth Vader in the series.
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Vanity Fairreported that the 91-year-old actor was not present for the recording of Vader’s voice forObi-Wan Kenobiafter the actor stepped away from playing him. “The company worked with Lucasfilm to generate the voice of a young Luke Skywalker for Disney+’sThe Book of Boba Fett,andthe recentObi-Wan Kenobiseriestasked them with making Darth Vader sound like James Earl Jones’s dark side villain from 45 years ago, now that Jones’s voice has altered with age and he has stepped back from the role.” The article then went into detail regarding how they managed to recreate Vader’s voice. “Programmers ‘training’ the A.I. to replicate Jones’s voice and editors piecing together the output worked from corridors in the interior of their apartments.”
The last time Jones returned to voice Darth Vader was inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was released back in 2019. Darth Vader is not the only well-known character that Jones returned to voice in the past decade, asJones voiced Mufasain Disney’s live-action version ofThe Lion King. At his age, it seems appropriate for him to stop because, much like anyone else, when you reach a certain age, your body cannot function the way it used, whether it’s your legs, your ears, or in Jones' case, your voice.
It probably is best for all parties because anyone who watchedLion King2019 could clearly hear that Jones was not capable of recapturing Mufasa’s voice 25 years after he first did in the animated version. That’s not his fault. He was 88 when the new one was released compared to 63 when the original movie came out. While Jones has one of the most well-known voices ever, it makes sense that being at the age he is now, his voice has simply been worn down over the years. That was inevitable whetherStar Warsfans want to acknowledge it or not.
With the advanced technologies we have now,theStar Warsfranchiseshould be able to endure not having Jones' actual voice involved going forward, should they include Darth Vader in future projects. Evidently, no one could really tell that it was AI providing the voice instead of Jones himself. Plus, if Jones had been voicing him, it could have potentially made theObi-Wan Kenobishow worse, knowing that Jones probably can’t voice Vader anymore, much like he couldn’t with Mufasa.
Obi-Wan Kenobican currently be streamed on Disney Plus.
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