James Earl Jones is quitting as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe. The 91-year-old American has transferred the rights to use his voice to producer Lucasfilm and audio company Reespeecher, which specializes in artificial intelligence, according to the magazine Vanity Fair.
Because Jones has transferred the rights to the use of his voice to the film companies, his voice can continue to be heard as that of the famous black villain indefinitely, as it can now be edited into the productions by computer. However, the companies would have agreed with Jones to "always discuss their plans with him and follow his advice to stay on the right course," according to Vanity Fair.
Fans of the film series had already felt that Jones was already out of the picture in the last two productions, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, because even then audio company Reespeecher was already involved in the filming. However, there is no clarity on that even with the news about voice rights.
James Earl Jones was first heard in 1977 as the iconic character with the black helmet. He then appeared for decades in both theatrical films and TV series of Star Wars as the famous villain. By the way, the actor was not the man who actually wore the black suit, as that was David Prowse. Who died of the coronavirus in 2020 at the age of 85.