Wizarding News

I'll just leave this here, since nobody seemed to notice: The short of it is: We have an authoritative source, someone who is currently working with JW, which I was able to independently verify. I double-confirmed what the source said. I'm not going to keep repeating myself; everything is in this thread already... Only time will prove us right or wrong, so can we please stop arguing until then? 😘

Our source is currently working with JW. And I already agreed Matessino's statements in that podcast contradicted what we learned in December and reconfirmed today. So... your point is you'd rather trust a named colleague of JW's, and I don't blame you. That's your absolute right. In any case, I've already said my piece about this... I am confident in what we report, otherwise, it wouldn't be reported. 🌞

We have our sources and what they have told us. We 100% believe them. I would not be so bold and confident about this news if I wasn't sure of it. I am not JW, and neither is our source. However, our source IS someone who works closely with JW. There are also parts of this story I cannot report because it would not be appropriate at this time. (That doesn't make those facts or the rest of the story untrue, though.) Once more, I am definitely not rooting for JW's retirement, just relaying what we know. And what we know is that well-known figures (e.g. Mike Mattesino) speaking on a podcast about their public work with JW is much different from us reporting with a trusted source who can speak openly because they have been granted anonymity. You can believe what you like right now; the truth will come out in time. As with all media, you must make up your own mind on what sources to trust. Over our 16+ year history, we gained the respect of our many millions of visitors from every country and every continent on earth by demonstrating responsible, authoritative journalism. Maybe we should all pop in our favorite JW album and just chill until then. 😌

We have the statements that we have from the sources that came to us; some of it is reportable and some is not (for legal reasons). I don't claim to be a full-fledged journalist but I majored in Journalism in college and have been doing this for a long, long time. When I make a conjecture, I say so. That doesn't mean the news is inaccurate, just that the reasons may be unclear presently. I think I'll stop posting here for now, but to reiterate: I would not stake my site's reputation (and my own) on this news if I were not convinced of its validity. It comes from a very trusted source. It may not come out all at once as a big official announcement tied up with a pretty bow on top, but something's coming this year. I sincerely appreciate the feedback from this forum.

Okay, I just listened and found it interesting, thanks. Our source, who also personally knows JW, said something entirely different to us in both December and again this week. Time will tell. (For the record, and I think I've said this before: Long prior to Harry Potter I was a huge John Williams fan. I played trumpet for 10 years because of his scores; I listened to his E.T. and Superman soundtracks in bed every night as a child. I was drum major of our 120-member marching band in high school. Of all the unbelievable things I've been lucky enough to do thanks to Harry Potter, one of the best moments of my LIFE was simply seeing John Williams in person conduct a Harry Potter medley [at the opening of the theme park in Florida; I also met J.K. Rowling, talked to her and shook hands at the same event, and yet just SEEING JW with my own eyes was the greater moment for me]. I would like nothing more than to have new John Williams music forever and ever. I'm not rooting for him to retire, just relaying the news.)

I think I found said podcast -- https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2019/02/18/mike-matessino-superman-part-1/ and https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2019/02/25/mike-matessino-superman-part-2/ ? They didn't say anything about Star Wars or retirement in their text posts, so I guess I'll have to listen to the podcast to find what you said. Any idea of a timestamp (or even which part)? Thanks.

Can you link me to such information? I searched here and on Google and didn't see anything recent. If what Matessino said was before December 21, 2018 then it's not up-to-date.

All I can say about that one is, "Oops!" Thankfully, it is irrelevant because we have our own, separate confirmation, provided exclusively to us by a trusted source. That is the news I was reporting today. [Edit: I also wouldn't stake our reputation on a major scoop like this unless I firmly believed it was true, but I understand that leaves it up to you to believe us. We've been wrong in the past, but much more often have been right. Have reported on Wizarding World happenings for almost 17 years now, in close coordination with the franchise creators.]

So... not to stir the pot again or anything... But we just got another confirmation that our December exclusive was indeed accurate. We're working on background right now and will post to our site & social media (and probably here) when finished. "Retire" is a loaded and ambiguous word, and I realize that now. It was pointed out here that Williams himself intends to write music until the very end. He's already cut back on conducting (right?), so I am guessing after his Disney Star Wars work is completed this year, he will take a big step back from composing major projects (film or otherwise). That's not to say he'll never, ever compose another score for anything... nobody knows that except JW. And, of course, when Indy 5 finally comes to fruition (now slated for 2021), he might still do that for Spielberg. But Indy 5 was ORIGINALLY supposed to be in theaters a few months from now. That's a pretty significant delay. More soon! [Edited to remove outdated reference to JW saying in an interview he would stop composing Star Wars music.]

I realized that and was editing my post before you submitted this post.

David Yates directed HP from Order of the Phoenix (#5) onward, so he would have had nothing to do with Goblet of Fire. Mike Newell directed Goblet of Fire. Did you mean to blame Mike Newell? (Don't worry, you can... many Potter fans consider #4 to be the worst movie of the series.) [Edit: I think I took your phrase "fourth Williams Potter score" too literally and incorrectly associated your statement with Goblet of Fire specifically.] My mistake. Here's what I meant to say: Deathly Hallows was a single film split into two. (Meaning they filmed it all at once.) When Alexandre Desplat was announced to score Part 1, it was only Part 1 we knew about. There was still some hope that Williams could somehow return to score Part 2, which makes little sense when you really think about it. The gist of what I was saying, though... I think everyone would've liked Williams to have scored Deathly Hallows, but they weren't going to bend over backward to bring him back.

I found this wonderfully detailed (and sourced) answer about the potential reasons why Williams did not end up scoring Deathly Hallows. It even references JWFan as a source: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/28761 Then there's a quote from Williams himself (in 2007): https://www.chronicle.com/article/Conversations-With-John/4906 he explained: “It was a schedule problem; … of course I would have done it if I could, but it overlapped pretty exactly with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and War of the Worlds. The Lucas-Spielberg relationship took precedence on my schedule, and I had commitments to both those films earlier on. I must say I miss doing [Potter].” So, straight from the horse's mouth, it was nothing but scheduling conflict for Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. As for Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, director David Yates might also have had a slight bias for Alexandre Desplat, who by 2010 had already scored Half-Blood Prince with Yates, meaning they had a good working relationship going into the final film(s).

This is interesting, and DID NOT come to pass: John Williams hopes to return for final 'Potter' https://hpana.com/news/20163 "In a lecture to fans recently, John Williams said "with confidence" that he thinks he will be back to score the final Harry Potter movie, according to a report." That "report," coincidentally, came from JWFan. So, we can't really even believe JW himself until he's able to sit down and do it... I guess?

I, too, initially thought this was just a rehash of JW's own proclamations that he would retire from Star Wars. But I reconfirmed with my source, and (ungendered pronoun 'they') said it was not just about Star Wars. I don't doubt that Williams will happily score Star Wars IX and Indy 5 if everything lines up, as is his announced plan. I am Wizarding News, who reported on what the source told us, yes. A little background: We are one of the oldest Harry Potter fan sites on the internet (16 years now!). J.K. Rowling endorsed us as one her favorites, and we've reported exclusives before. (The biggest of which was breaking the story that Universal was developing the Wizarding World theme park all the way back in 2007.) On a personal level, I played trumpet myself for over 10 years, drum major'ed my school's marching band, and am a HUGE John Williams fan to boot. I would like nothing more for him to keep scoring films indefinitely. I'm very sorry if anyone was offended.

"Touring schedule" was a poor choice of words on my part. I meant to relay that he recovered quickly enough to resume his regular activities. An American playing the Royal Albert Hall qualifies as a tour stop, in my book, even though he had to cancel.