Things keep getting more exciting in the galaxy far, far away…
Variety has just confirmed that legendary Star Wars composer John Williams is returning to compose the theme for the Obi-Wan Kenobi show on Disney+.
Variety’s sources say that Williams composed the theme last week with a Los Angeles Orchestra under tight security.
Welcome Back To Star Wars
This news comes after the recent announcement that the show will be airing on May 25th, exactly 45 years after the first Star Wars film released in theaters.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will be the 12th Star Wars project that John Williams has scored. He previously composed for all 9 episodic films in the franchise, as well as the theme for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and Disneyland’s “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” theme park, for which he won his most recent Grammy.
His original score for Star Wars: A New Hope earned him an Oscar in 1977, and he went on to receive nominations for five more of the Star Wars sequels (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker). He currently holds the record for most Oscar nominations for a living person.
At 90 years old, the man is an absolute powerhouse who shows no signs of slowing down. He is also currently composing the scores for the upcoming Steven Spielberg film The Fabermans, as well as the fifth Indiana Jones movie which comes out next year, and in addition to all of that, he will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic on March 12-13, the Philadelphia Orchestra April 19 and 21, the Pittsburgh Symphony on April 25, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Sept. 2-4.
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THIS THEME SONG?
The name John Williams is sure to send a tingle down the spine of every Star Wars fan.
In this film universe (as well as in many others), Williams is known as the master of the motif and leitmotif. What this means is that every important character or significant moment gets its own theme, all of it woven together to create a beautiful whole. The use of leitmotifs has always been used brilliantly within Star Wars; sometimes in grand, sweeping, operatic ways, and sometimes in subtle moments that the audience only notices or appreciates upon a re-watch.
While fans are going to have to wait just a little bit longer before feasting their ears on what Williams has in store for us, its easy to imagine that he might play upon these well-known motifs, giving us riffs that remind us of the original 1977 appearance of Obi-Wan (played by Alec Guinness), and the character’s time in the prequel era (where he was played by Ewan McGregor).
As of right now, it’s unclear if William’s will be contributing towards the score for the duration of the series, or if he is only composing the theme song. The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett were both scored by Ludwig Göransson (with Joseph Shirley as a co-composer for Boba Fett), so it’s entirely possible that we could see Goransson return to score the individual episodes of this series.
He did incredible work on both seasons of The Mandalorian, as well as Black Panther, Creed, Tenet and other projects, so it would be amazing to think that the pair might have collaborated for something on this series. I know, I’m just getting greedy now…But either way, this is bound to be incredible.
What are your thoughts on the return of Williams? Let us know in the comments!
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres on Disney+ May 25th, 2022.
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Source: Variety
