The latest season of Fortnite is centered around a galaxy, far, far, away. One of the newest additions comes in the form of being able to speak with Darth Vader, who will respond back with conversational A.I. The Fortnite team said that they were given permission from actor James Earl Jones’ family to utilize his iconic voice for the character.  Now, SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Fortnite‘s signatory company, Llama Productions for choosing to replace human performers with A.I. without providing any notice of intent to do so.

SAG-AFTRA Statement on Fortnite’s Use of A.I. Darth Vader Voice and ULP Filing https://t.co/tF2WwTzn59

— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) May 19, 2025

SAG-AFTRA released the following statement regarding their filing:

“We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles. However, 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.

Fortnite‘s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions.”

SAG-AFTRA is still on strike against the video game industry after a deal was not made for acceptable protection around the use of A.I. for its members. Since the strike, a handful of video game companies have reached an agreement and Riot Games was added to the list of developers SAG-AFTRA is striking against. It was also revealed that Grand Theft Auto VI’s development will not be affected by the strike.

Unfourtnely, things may have gotten a little out of hand with players finding ways to break the new feature which is causing Vader to use curse words, other actual slurs, and other weird interactions.