After a Star Wars career spanning 45 years, James Earl Jones is retiring as the voice of Darth Vader. Though the iconic villain was credited as working on Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, his voice was generated using Artificial Intelligence, a move the actor himself signed off on. In a new piece in Vanity Fair on Friday, it was confirmed that Jones approved the studio’s usage of the AI. The move allows Lucasfilm and Disney to continue using his voice likeness in future projects via the new technology with no direct involvement from Jones.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character,” Matthew Wood told the magazine. “So how do we move forward?” Jones is also credited for guiding the Vader’s voice performance on the series and Wood even called him “a benevolent godfather.”
Suffice to say, fans of the franchise are upset with Jones’ retirement from a galaxy far, far away. Keep scrolling to see what they’re saying.
