- You can now talk to Darth Vader in Fortnite
- Disney and Epic Games announced the revival of Darth Vaders iconic voice thanks to the power of AI
- James Earl Jones died in 2024 but his voice lives on
Disney and Epic Games have confirmed Darth Vaders iconic voice comes to Fortnite thanks to AI’s power.
Darth Vader, one of Star Wars’ most famous characters, was expressed by actor James Earl Jones, who died last year at the age of 93. Now, starting today, fans of a galaxy far, far away will be able to hear his voice once again … in Fortnite.
In a blog post, Epic Games confirmed Jones’ AI voice appears in Fortnite and that the company is “honored to have the voice of the deceased Mr. Jones, and we thank his property for the opportunity to make this happen to players.”
There is also a quote from the actor’s family: “James Earl felt that Darth Vader’s voice was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope this collaboration with Fortnite will give both long -time fans of Darth Vader and recent generations to share this iconic character.”
The new Darth Vader -Dialog was created by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and Audio of ElevenLabs’ Flash V2.5 model. Fortnite players will be able to talk to Darth Vader in the game and recruit the Star Wars villain to help win a Victory Royale.
Darth Vader returns
There has been an ongoing debate about the use of AI to bring a deceased actor’s resemblance to live. Jones, who is not only famous for his role as Darth Vader, but also as Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King, signed over the rights to his archive voice and collaborated with the Ukrainian company, Respechecher.
You may have heard of Respecher before when the company’s software was used to improve the Hungarian dialect on the Oscar-nominated brutalist earlier this year.
This collaboration will be investigated as the debate over whether we should keep the actors’ similarities alive after their passersby rages. That said, Disney and Epic Games, along with Jones’ family, are clear that they have recreated his voice in the most tasty way as possible.
In the collaboration message, Disney and Epic, “Epic Games and Disney have worked together to think about developing this innovative function with a strong focus on transparency, consent and security – ensuring that creators, Disney IP and players are protected in interactive experiences.”
So whether you like it or not, you can chat with Darth Vader in Fortnite this weekend, even if you will have to be over 13 as your data is sent to Gemini to generate an answer.
