Star Wars’ James Earl Jones retires from voicing Darth Vader

One of the most iconic voices in cinema has called it a day

James Earl Jones is stepping back from his role voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise. The 91-year-old actor first voiced the iconic villain in the original 1977 film, with Vader being physically portrayed by David Prowse. Jones went on to voice Vader in all of the Star Wars films and many of the character's appearances in television series as well. Most recently, he was credited as providing the voice of the Sith Lord in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. https://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1573459926562705408 But many had wondered whether Disney had used A.I. studio Respeecher to provide Jones' voice. Despite his age, there was very little difference between Jones' voice in the 2022 series to his voice in the original films. Vanity Fair reports that Disney had previously worked with the Ukrainian A.I. company to generate a Luke Skywalker's voice in The Book of Boba Fett. https://twitter.com/MaceAhWindu/status/1573468244408664075 The people behind the A.I. revealed to the publication that Jones has signed off on the technology and even advises them on it. Jones has signed off on Disney and Lucasfilm being allowed to use his archival voice, so despite walking away from providing new recordings for the franchise, it seems like there are no plans to end Vader's involvement in future or current Star Wars projects. https://twitter.com/TheFirstOkiro/status/1573483086498635785 Along with providing the voice to one of cinema's most terrifying villains, Jones is also known for voicing Mufasa in the Lion King films, and has had an extensive career in film, television and theatre. In 2011, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the Oscars. Related links:

• Simon Pegg brands Star Wars audience the most 'toxic' fan base he's come across
• People urged not to ‘romanticise’ Jeffrey Dahmer just because he’s played by Evan Peters in Netflix series
• Jose Mourinho and Louis Theroux star in Stormzy's video ‘masterpiece’