James Earl Jones’ Death Spurs Questions About His ‘Star Wars’ Future
James Earl Jones’ iconic voice was among his many gifts as a performer. With the actor having died this week at 93, it remains to be seen whether that voice could appear in new projects, particularly from the Star Wars franchise.
One of Jones’ signature roles was providing the voice of Darth Vader, which he originated in 1977’s Star Wars and continued throughout the initial trilogy before reprising the character in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Although Jones was not involved in the 2022 Disney+ series Obi Wan-Kenobi, his voice was used, with Skywalker Sound editor Matthew Wood telling Vanity Fair at the time that the actor had quietly retired from the role but signed over rights to his archival voice work.
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Jones made the deal with Ukrainian startup Respeecher, which used AI to cull through audio from his early Darth Vader projects and create new lines of dialogue with the younger-sounding voice. Wood told the publication that Jones was akin to a “benevolent godfather” in working with the show’s team to offer guidance with the new dialogue for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Following Jones’ death on Monday, industry analysts are watching to see whether his voice will resurface, either in the Star Wars world or other projects, given that he is also known for voicing Mufasa in the Lion King franchise. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Lucasfilm and Disney representatives for clarity on whether Jones agreed for his voice to be used posthumously for Star Wars. For the upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King, which voice stars Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Jones’ voice is not expected to be heard.
“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, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “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?”
Last month, SAG-AFTRA was among the organizations lauding the California state Senate for passing law AB 1836, requiring consent to use digital replicas of deceased performers. The language is similar to that included by the union in its contract agreement signed last year following the actors strike. In March, Tennessee became the first state to enact legislation aimed at protecting musicians from unauthorized voice use through AI and deepfakes with the ELVIS Act (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security).
The use of deceased performers in films, particularly in later installments of long-running franchises, remains a topic of debate as AI technology evolves. Released last month, Alien: Romulus used the likeness of late actor Ian Holm, who played the android Ash in the 1979 original Alien. 20th Century Studios used animatronics, CGI and AI to bring to life a different android named Rook. The estate of Holm, who died in 2020, gave permission and told THR in a statement, “We loved being there and are pleased that [Fox is] bringing both Alien and lan to another generation.”
The Star Wars franchise broke ground when it incorporated the character Grand Moff Tarkin into Rogue One. The film digitally resurrected original Star Wars actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994. Currently, Lucasfilm parent company Disney is embroiled in a legal battle with the U.K.-based company Tyburn Film Productions, which says that Cushing agreed that his likeness could only be re-created using special effects with the company’s permission. Disney stated it entered into an agreement with Cushing’s estate, but a judge ruled this month that it would go to trial.
“You just get permission, and everything’s OK,” says cinematographer Eric Adkins, who worked on 2004’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which used computer manipulation of Laurence Olivier’s archival footage to create a new role for the legendary actor, who died in 1989. Adkins recalls one of the film’s stars meeting with Olivier’s widow, Joan Plowright, to explain the vision: “[Given] today’s world, where everyone’s worried about owning likeness for AI, we got permission from the estate by having Jude Law go to Laurence Olivier’s wife and sweet-talk this into happening.”
Hitting theaters in December is Mufasa: The Lion King, director Barry Jenkins’ prequel feature for Disney that tells the origin story of Mufasa. The adult character was voiced by Jones in the original 1994 Lion King animated film and in 2019’s photorealistic remake.
His voice will still be used as part of the University of Michigan video that has played at the start of every home football game since it debuted in 2015. Jones, who earned a drama degree from the university, delivers a stirring two-minute monologue about school pride that will continue to run unchanged.
The recent laws being enacted are crucial to helping performers navigate this changing landscape, according to Kevin J. Greene, a professor of copyright and entertainment law at Southwestern Law School. He encourages performers to be careful with details in contracts for voice and likeness rights, given his sense that there may be a current lack of protection or insulation to guarantee how these deals are carried out.
“I have no objection to end-of-life people saying, ‘Yeah, I’d like to give my family some money,'” Greene says. “I’m more concerned about people who still have a long lifespan and may not realize that they are conveying rights that they will later regret.”
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