After 45 years, James Earl Jones is saying goodbye to the galaxy far, far away by officially retiring from Star Wars.

According to Vanity Fair, Jones has signed the voice rights to his character Darth Vader over to Lucasfilm and Respeecher. The latter is a Ukranian company that uses archival recordings and an A.I. program to create new dialogue with the voices of performers who have either aged out of their roles or have passed away. This method was recently used to recreate the voice of a young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) for The Book of Boba Fett and to mimic Vader's voice, which Jones has now aged out of, for his scenes in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

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Matthew Wood, a sound editor at Lucasfilm, has recorded Jones' voice numerous times throughout his 32-year career with the company, the latest being for The Rise of Skywalker. When Wood showed Jones Respeecher's capabilities, the actor agreed to sign over the rights to his voice to keep Vader alive. "[James] had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character," Wood said. "So how do we move forward?" Though many studios recast voice actors when the original performer can no longer play the part, Jones' distinct sound has become synonymous with Vader.

James Earl Jones' Darth Vader Legacy

George Lucas first hired Jones to dub over the voice of David Prowse, the actor who played Vader on set, during post-production for 1977's A New Hope. Though the job earned Jones just $7,000 at the time, it turned the actor into a household name. Jones has since voiced the iconic villain in more than a dozen Star Wars-related projects.

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In recent years, there has been controversy surrounding the use of CGI and other digital techniques to de-age and posthumously cast deceased actors. The technique was used to recreate Grand Moff Tarkin and a young Princess Leia for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which audiences met with mixed reception. A main source of controversy is that actors who have passed away, such as Tarkin's Peter Cushing, are unable to give their consent for studios to use their likenesses in their projects. The fact that Jones has given his blessing for Lucasfilm to use his signature baritone in future Star Wars content, including those produced after his own passing, may ease these concerns for fans.

Jones has enjoyed a career spanning more than 60 years and is among the few performers to earn the coveted EGOT (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). In addition to Darth Vader, he recently reprised his roles as Mufasa in Jon Favreau's 2019 remake of The Lion King and as King Jaffe Joffer in Coming 2 America.

Source: Vanity Fair