James Earl Jones dies: Iconic Darth Vader voice to live on

James Earl Jones, known worldwide as the voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars," passed away at the age of 93. His agent confirmed that the actor died on 9 September at his home in New York.

Jones's death has caused a wave of tributes from various corners of the globe, and one of the most touching came from Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker.

The actor's last role was voicing Vader in the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series. Although he officially retired from this role in September 2022, technology-enabled his voice to live on.

In the series, Vader's voice was recreated using advanced technologies. This involved collaboration with the Ukrainian company Respeecher, which utilised artificial intelligence to reuse the iconic voice. James Earl Jones supervised this process, ensuring that his voice sounded appropriate.

Jones agreed that his voice would be used in the future through artificial intelligence, meaning the character of Darth Vader would be able to appear on screens for many years.

This is not the first time that "Star Wars" creators have used technology to recreate the voice or appearance of deceased actors. In the 2016 film "Rogue One," the character Tarkin was played by Guy Henry, but his face was digitally altered to resemble Peter Cushing. Similarly, in the younger version of Princess Leia, her face was digitally "de-aged" in the same production.

Jones, who lent his voice to Vader for decades, also collaborated on films like The Empire Strikes Back, in which the famous words "I am your father" were secretly added before the rest of the cast.

Thanks to technology and an agreement with the actor, Darth Vader's voice, despite Jones's death, will remain immortal in the world of cinema.