James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, passes away at 93

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

Jones' death sparked a wave of tributes from various corners of the globe, and one of the most touching came from Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker.

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

In the series, Vader's voice was recreated thanks to advanced technologies. It was done in collaboration with the Ukrainian company Respeecher, which used artificial intelligence to reuse the iconic voice. James Earl Jones supervised this process, ensuring his voice sounded appropriate.

Jones also agreed to have his voice used in the future through artificial intelligence, which means the character of Darth Vader could appear on screens for many years to come.

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

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

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