James Earl Jones has one of the most iconic voices in the history of movies and is stepping back from voicing Darth Vader, which he has done for almost 40 years, according to Deadline.
What’s Happening:
- James Earl Jones has voiced Darth Vader for nearly 40 years and will be stepping back from this role.
- According to Vanity Fair, the 91-year old actor has signed the rights to his voice over to filmmakers using new AI technology, Matthew Wood of Lucasfilm told the magazine that the actor "wished to keep Vader alive."
- "He had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character," Wood told Vanity Fair. "So how do we move forward?"
- Jones started in 1977 as the popular Star Wars villain and continued voicing Darth Vader throughout the franchise up to the point where it was on the big and small screen. He even recently starred as the character in the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series that can be found on Disney+.
- Although David Prowse was in the black uniform of Vader for the original films, it was Jones who provided the iconic voice.
- He has done much more work than Star Wars. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2011, having been nominated for Best Actor in the 1970 film, The Great White Hope.