How many times did James Earl Jones play Darth Vader over the course of his career?

James Earl Jones has one of the most iconic voices in cinema, lending his deep, commanding voice to Darth Vader in several Star Wars movies.

It’s hard to imagine anyone else voicing the Sith Lord, and Star Wars creator George Lucas sung these praises in 2015 when he said Jones “created, with very little dialogue, one of the greatest villains that ever lived.” 

The first movie in the saga, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (titled just Star Wars at the time of its release) debuted in theaters in 1977. English actor David Prowse, who stood at an imposing height of 6’6”, was perfect for Darth Vader’s physicality, but his thick Devonshire accent didn’t have the dark quality Lucas envisioned.

The role of Darth Vader was between Jones and actor and director Orson Welles, but ultimately, Lucas stated, “James Earl Jones won hands down.” So, just how many films did Jones’ success in the role lead to?

How many times did James Earl Jones play Darth Vader?

The Skywalker Saga, the trilogy of trilogies that includes nine films, featured Jones five times as the iconic villain: Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Star Wars: Episode IV — Return of the Jedi (1983), Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005), and Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

On top of those five films, which spanned over four decades between the years 1977 to 2019, Jones voiced Darth Vader in numerous other side projects and spin-offs.

James Earl Jones as Darth Vader in other projects

Besides the main Star Wars movies, Jones also lent his voice to other Star Wars-related projects. In 1978, the actor voiced Darth Vader in The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, an animated short that was part of The Star Wars Holiday Special TV movie. 

In 1997, Jones returned as Darth Vader in the computer game Monopoly Star Wars, which had the same mechanics as the board game but featured characters and locations from Star Wars.

In 2011, the theme park attraction “Star Tours: The Adventures Continue” opened at Disneyland in Florida and California. The ride featured various plots from the Skywalker Saga, and Jones’ baritone voice as Darth Vader once again made an appearance.  

The animated TV series Star Wars Rebels, which debuted in 2014 and lasted four seasons, again saw Jones reprising his role as Darth Vader in five episodes in seasons one, two, and four of the series.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, released in 2016, was the first Star Wars anthology series movie, and again enlisted Jones in the role of Darth Vader.

While it is unconnected to the the Star Wars universe, Jones used his Darth Vader voice as part of a cameo in the film The Benchwarmers, a comedy movie starring David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Jon Heder.

James Earl Jones retired as Darth Vader in 2022

Jones decided to retire as Darth Vader at 91 years old in 2022. His last recording as the Sith Lord prior to his retirement was for a short dialogue for 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IV — The Rise of Skywalker.

However, Jones signed over the rights to use his previous Darth Vader voiceover work for future Star Wars projects with the help of AI.

2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries marked the first time that Jones was featured as Darth Vader with the use of AI. The company stated, “With machine learning technology, we managed to create a clone of James Earl Jones’ voice, allowing Darth Vader to resume his role as the evil Sith Lord in all his glory.”

Overall, Jones has played the role of Darth Vader more than 10 times in his career. He died on Sept. 9, 2024, at 93 years old.