SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Llama Productions, an Epic Games subsidiary, over how it went about Fortnite’s AI-voiced Darth Vader. The charge isn’t being laid simply because Llama Productions and Epic used AI. Prior to his passing, James Earl Jones, the original voice for Darth Vader and a litany of other iconic roles, signed a deal with Respeecher to allow his archived voice-over work to be used in cases like this.
The charge from SAG-AFTRA comes from how Llama Productions went about using an AI version of Jones’ voice. SAG-AFTRA is placing the charge because Llama Productions went the AI route “without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms,” the organization says in a statement.
“We must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games,” SAG-AFTRA writes in its statement.
In the actual filing, the basis of the charge reads “Within the past six months, the Employer [Llama Productions], by its agents and representatives, 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.”
So it’s not that generative AI was used to voice Darth Vader in Fortnite that SAG-AFTRA has a problem with, it’s the fact that Llama Productions, by SAG’s claims, completely went around SAG-AFTRA when working with Respeecher to bring the AI-version of James Earl Jones’ voice to Fortnite.
As far as Jones’ family is concerned, when AI Darth Vader was first showcased, his family released the following statement through Epic, saying “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. 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.”
Hours into AI Darth Vader being in Fortnite, players had been able to make him swear and say offensive slurs.
The strike that SAG-AFTRA actors under the Interactive Media Agreement (IMA) called last year is still ongoing, and while it wouldn’t have impacted games coming out in 2025 and even games in 2026, it will begin to impact future titles if a deal cannot be reached soon. SAG-AFTRA recently published a rebuttal to the offer put forth by game studios, which, if SAG-AFTRA had signed, would have provided no generative AI protections for any performance that came before this new deal.
Something that the union was clearly not going to agree to. If this is where negotiations are sitting, then it could be a long while before a deal is reached.
