A new report addressed James Earl Jones' Star Wars future as the voice of Darth Vader following his death.
Last week, the legendary actor passed away at the age of 93. A lot of his colleagues and fans mourned his death online and paid tribute to his legacy as an artist and the voice behind one of cinema's most iconic villains.
Since his passing, fans have been wondering how Lucasfilm will handle Vader's voice in future projects and whether they will use artificial intelligence (AI) to continue using his voice even if he's no longer with us anymore.
James Earl Jones' Death Puts Darth Vader's Future in Question
A recent report laid out some details on how Lucasfilm might potentially handle the future of Darth Vader in future Star Wars projects after the passing of Jones last week.
So far, the studio has not shared their plans on whether they will recast the voice role with a new actor or they'll use archived voice footage for future appearances.
Aside from the late actor, the character has been voiced by other performers in various projects such as Matt Sloan, Scott Lawrence, and Fred Tatasciore.
Years ago, Jones made the deal with Ukrainian startup Respeecher, which uses AI to cull through audio from his early Vader projects and create new lines of dialogue with the younger-sounding voice. The technology was used in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It is unknown yet whether the contract covers all Star Wars projects that will be released after his passing in case Lucasfilm wants to use his voice for Vader.
"A lot is going to depend on what sort of contracts the performer entered into during their lifetime," Mary LaFrance, professor of intellectual property law at UNLV, explained in the report.
"If they authorized certain digital replicas of their voice or likeness, what are the details of those contracts? Could those contracts still be in effect for additional works that might be created postmortem?"
It would be interesting to see how it all plays out in the future as fans are anticipating to see Jones' impact in the character's voiceover future.
While it would be comforting for many fans to hear Jones' voice continue, you could also argue that it might be better ethically and morally if Lucasfilm would just recast the role with another voice actor who can mimic closely what the late actor did.
What do you think will happen to Vader's voiceover future following Jones' passing? Let us know in the comments!
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