Credit: LucasfilmThe creation of an AI-powered Darth Vader has sparked a new legal battle involving the makers of Fortnite.
Related: Fan Breaks Into Avengers: Doomsday Set and Discovers Major Clues About the Film
Epic Games, the company behind the massively popular, free-to-play video game Fortnite, has been sued over its recent collaboration with Star Wars. SAG-AFTRA, an American labor union representing roughly 170,000 media professionals, has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Epic Games for its viral Darth Vader AI companion that recently dropped in the game for players to interact with.
SAG-AFTRA says that while it “celebrates” new technologies being introduced into the workforce and the industry as a whole, it also must serve to protect its members, including those who had a part in helping bring the character of Darth Vader to life.
Fortnite’s Darth Vader companion was, by all means, a weird endeavor, even for Epic, allowing players to stand side-by-side with perhaps one of fiction’s most famous villains of all time as he aided them in achieving a “Victory Royale.” However, this first-of-its-kind Fortnite NPC had the ability to talk by way of AI voice technology, prompting the internet to see just how far they could push Vader.
Within the first 24 hours, clips of Darth Vader saying slurs, cursing, and referencing heinous acts spread like wildfire on social media, sparking both controversy and criticism. Fortnite’s current season is centered on Star Wars, so a Darth Vader companion makes sense. Players likely weren’t expecting Vader to have such a vast and problematic vocabulary, though.
Fortnite launched an AI-powered Darth Vader modeled after the voice of James Earl Jones, and it’s going as well as you might expect: pic.twitter.com/I8mMq76eEB
— IGN (@IGN) May 16, 2025
Related: Zootopia 2 Trailer Just Dropped — And It’s a Wild Ride
SAG-AFTRA said that Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, barred humans from working on the project and instead chose AI technology to do the job. The company reportedly did so without providing any notice or intent to do so and without bargaining over appropriate terms.
In its filing, SAG states that Llama “failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite.”
What’s interesting is that the estate of James Earl Jones supported the creation.
“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” the family said. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
James Earl Jones passed away in September 2024 at the age of 93, a massive loss for the industry and pop culture as a whole. Jones was not only the voice of Luke Skywalker’s father but also Mufasa from Disney’s The Lion King.
According to a 2022 story from Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan Kenobi sound editor Mathew Wood was apparently looking to “wind down” the character but wanted to keep the Vader voice authentic for future audiences.
The team used Respeecher’s tech, which allowed them to generate an authentic James Earl Jones Darth Vader voice.
“When he ultimately presented Jones with Respeecher’s work, the actor signed off on using his archival voice recordings to keep Vader alive and vital even by artificial means—appropriate, perhaps, for a character who is half mechanical.”
While James Earl Jones’ family had good intentions, it’s unlikely they expected his voice to be used to spread such vitriolic and obscene comments in one of the world’s most popular, and kid-friendly video games.
Stay tuned here at Inside the Magic for all Star Wars and Disney news updates.