An AI James Earl Jones returns as Darth Vader in Fortnite with permission

Fortnite players can now command Star Wars’ ultimate Sith Lord using their own voices — and hear Darth Vader respond in the iconic tones of actor James Earl Jones.

Following Jones’ passing in 2024, Epic Games and Disney have brought his voice back to life with a new feature that lets fans recruit and interact with Vader in-game. It’s worth noting: The potentially controversial addition, produced using generative AI technology, was sanctioned by Jones’ estate.

Replacing Darth Vader Samurai as a boss in Galactic Battle, the first team to recruit Vader in Battle Royale or Zero Build matches will be able to interact with him using a special on-screen “Darth Vader” button, asking him anything in real time. Behind the scenes, Epic Games says players’ voice input is securely transmitted to Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model, which generates Vader’s AI-driven response. That response is then brought to life in Jones’ voice using ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model.