The Resurrection

More than 500 years after his death, Richard III is back.

This time, however, the English king has returned not as a Shakespearean villain but as a “living and breathing” avatar that lets audiences hear his voice and see him in motion.

Using cutting-edge technology, a team of researchers recreated the 15th-century monarch’s appearance and speech, they say, with remarkable accuracy. The project, “A Voice for King Richard III” is now on display at York Theatre Royal in England.

Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, a vocal coach who spearheaded the effort, told NBC News that the project took “10 long years” to put “the pieces together in the puzzle because we wanted this to be based on evidence.”

“That involved dentistry, physiotherapy, craniofacial reconstruction, the original pronunciation, forensic psychology, all sorts,” she added.

The initiative began after Richard III’s remains were unearthed beneath a parking lot in the northern English city of Leicester in 2012.

CT scans of his skeleton allowed researchers to reconstruct his head, revealing that while Richard did have spinal curvature, he was not the deformed hunchback described by Shakespeare.

“The skeleton has ruled out all the myths,” Morley-Chisholm said. “He did not have a limp, a withered arm, (and was not) a hunchback.”

The project also enlisted linguist David Crystal to recreate the king’s voice.

Through analysis of medieval manuscripts and spelling, Crystal achieved “90 percent or so accuracy” in recreating Richard’s speech. He told the BBC that the king’s voice was “a fascinating mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar,” adding that the accent reflects Richard’s Yorkshire roots.

To bring Richard’s personality to life, historian Philippa Langley studied letters, diaries, and public descriptions of the king from his lifetime.

The team then picked British actor Thomas Dennis to embody the king, thanks to his resemblance to the reconstructed image. His expressions were synced with the avatar’s movements, making Richard appear lifelike.

“When Thomas lifts an eyebrow, Richard lifts an eyebrow,” Morley-Chisholm told the BBC.

The result is an immersive experience where visitors can see Richard “breathing, thinking, blinking, talking:” Here is a sample of the king’s speech.

Now, Crystal is looking to the future, wondering, “Who else can we do?”