50 Roles for 50 Actors: Dream casting the Star Wars saga

Dream casting the Star Wars saga: John Noble as Darth Vader

It’s time to cast one of the most well-known voices in cinema. The combination of James Earl Jones’ rumbling bass and Darth Vader’s imposing black getup has left a lasting impression on moviegoers, and it won’t be easy to find a worthy successor to him. However, I submit John Noble as an excellent candidate.

Noble’s most famous role was as the unstable King Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Everything you need to know about why he’d make a good Vader is there. He has a powerful, rich, textured voice, a voice that can get inside our heads just like Jones’ did. He also played a man of great power, and although Vader never went crazy like Denethor, there’s a sense of tragedy that hangs about both characters.

It mostly comes down to that voice, though. Filtered through whatever effects were used to give Darth Vader’s voice that slightly tinny quality, Noble’s Vader voice could be a revelation. Also, with Noble in the role, there’d be no need to cast a different actor for Darth Vader’s death scene in Return of the Jedi. Noble would be more than capable of handling the task himself, and the vocals would stay consistent.

Next: The first of several Imperial jackasses