John Williams Returns to ‘Star Wars’ Universe with ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Theme - Jon Burlingame Variety article

[Jay 37,281]

https://variety.com/2022/artisans/news/john-williams-obi-wan-kenobi-theme-star-wars-series-1235185228/

[eitam 364]

 

I wonder if the Force Theme will make a cameo. 

[Drew 590]

YEAAAAAAA

Do you think JW would have agreed to write the theme if the score isn't being done by John Powell?

[Bespin 8,475]

I will have to resuscribe to Disney+, f***.

[Drew 590]

I'm not going to fully embrace this until Disney announces it. I don't like that the article is based on "sources".

[LaloCoyoacan 46]

And the series premiere on may 25th, on the day of the 45th anniversary! Way to go!

2 minutes ago, Drew said:

I'm not going to fully embrace this until Disney announces it. I don't like that the article is based on "sources".

Jon Burlingame is quite trustworthy; Variety is a reliable source, I think

[Jay 37,281]

I did find it odd myself, after reading through the article, that it doesn't really reveal anything we didn't already know; No new comments by anyone involved or anything.

 

I have to imagine Burlingame wouldn't write this, and Variety wouldn't print it, if it wasn't true, but it seems like an odd way to official reveal this.  I assumed it would be announced one day via starwars.com

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I still remember where I was sitting when I first saw the Burlingame article about the Solo theme!

 

So awesome that it’s happening again.

[Drew 590]

5 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I still remember where I was sitting when I first saw the Burlingame article about the Solo theme!

 

I was on the sofa recovering from a stomach bug! I could barely read the article without feeling sick.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

Funny that we basically knew days in advance just from a cellist vaguely saying that they recorded something for JW. 

[Fabulin 3,510]

[Chen G. 3,943]

Incredible. 9 movies, The Adventures of Han, Galaxy's Edge and now this!

[Manakin Skywalker 4,890]

2 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Incredible. 9 movies, The Adventures of Han, Galaxy's Edge and now this!

 

And to think, not even 10 years ago we thought 6 films was the end of it!

[Fabulin 3,510]

Incredible to read that TROS was 2 years ago. It feels like last December!

[crumbs 14,300]

27 minutes ago, eitam said:

 

I wonder if the Force Theme will make a cameo. 

 

Or Battle of the Heroes...

 

[Jay 37,281]

Just saw this great perspective in the FSM thread

Quote

 

Let's say the 1933 "King Kong" ended up a "saga," spawning several mega-hit movies and TV series over 45 years. If Max Steiner had lived into his 90s and had worked on them all, he'd still have been composing for them in 1978.

 

45 years of hands-on involvement in a single film franchise is mind blowing.

 

 

Amazing.

 

Was just thinking that this extends Williams' tenure of writing new Star Wars material 3 YEARS beyond where it was before, since TROS was 2019!

[Chen G. 3,943]

Well, its a bit different because its not a series of episodes like, say, John Barry scoring Bond films or Steiner scoring Kong sequels or even Williams scoring the next Indy.

 

Its more comparable to the Ring cycle. Stuff like this and Galaxy's Edge would be Williams' equivalent of the Siegfried Idyll or something...

[eitam 364]

4 minutes ago, crypto said:

 

Or Battle of the Heroes...

 

 

Wow, great idea ! Given that Hayden Christensen will apparently be back, there's no way the he and Kenobi don't meet at some point... 

[crumbs 14,300]

36 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I will have to resuscribe to Disney+, f***.

 

They emailed my annual renewal notice yesterday.

 

Now I know why there was a price increase; I'm paying for Williams to write more Star Wars music!

[WampaRat 1,105]

Wow. Never thought he’d come back after “retiring from Star Wars”. I got the feeling that JW was ready to move on. But perhaps It’s just too much damn fun for him to stop. PLEASE have Powell (or Batu Sener(!) do the score!

[MrJosh 892]

This is really exciting news. My first thought goes to how fortunate we are that this is happening. I still remember seeing ROTS in theaters and having the thought in my head that it would be the last new John Williams Star Wars music that I would hear and accepted that fact. 

 

How crazy that here we are in 2022 and there is new John Williams Star Wars music to look forward to (after 3 additional movies, Solo, Galaxy's Edge, etc)...

[crumbs 14,300]

25 minutes ago, Jay said:

Was just thinking that this extends Williams' tenure of writing new Star Wars material 3 YEARS beyond where it was before, since TROS was 2019!

 

Before this news, Indiana Jones was going to have the exact same 42 year gap as Star Wars, between Williams' first and last scores (1977 > 2019 for SW vs 1981 > 2023 for IJ).

 

The sprawl for Star Wars is now 45 years between first and last contributions. Staggering.

Clearly this just means Williams has to return for Indiana Jones 6 in 2026.

[Alex 2,833]

[leeallen01 2,133]

I hope this means disney are putting more effort into this series, because good god their tv shows are awful.

 

I don't even think the Boba Fett show had writers. It was just based on a pile of burning trash.

[Yannick 40]

Imagine he drops this lol

 

 

[Edmilson 7,384]

Who do you guys think is the main for the score? I'm pretty sure Williams wouldn't be involved with the show If he didn't approve who will play with his brand new theme. 

 

I wonder If it'll be someone young and new or someone more established (like John Powell ). Whoever gets the job will have Williams to support him/her.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Man, after season 2 of Mando and the tepid Boba Fett I was *this* close to being done with anything to do with Star Wars, but this show will drag me back… for now.

 

I can’t wait to hear what he does with it. 

[Chen G. 3,943]

I'm imagining something that's spun-off of the theme we associate with The Force (and, in the original film, with Old Ben) but who's to tell?

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Just now, Edmilson said:

Who do you guys think is the main for the score? I'm pretty sure Williams wouldn't be involved with the show If he didn't approve who will play with his brand new theme. 

 

I wonder If it'll be someone young and new or someone more established (like John Powell ). Whoever gets the job will have Williams to support him/her.

I hope it’s Powell. Are there any other near-protégés on his level?

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

Wonderful news! I feel like we're bound to be saying this for any new Williams project, but who could've guessed we'd be looking forward to this and so much more from the maestro in 2022 and beyond? Unbelievable. 

 

Mind you, we're still a minus a composer announcement for the score proper, so allow me to speculate a little bit as to why I'm almost certain it's John Powell...

 

1) Who else would Williams be comfortable writing a theme for than somebody who he's already worked with in this capacity? And quite successfully too, I might add. It's very easy to imagine Williams agreeing to a Solo situation if it were to mean the arrangement was with Powell again.

 

2) I'm pretty sure we know thanks to IMDB credits that London musicians are attached to the score. Powell also seems to have a pretty empty slate as far as upcoming projects go.  He has Don't Worry Darling coming out later this year, but I believe most of the work on that should be done by now (especially considering he was posting previews not but a few weeks ago).

 

3) This last one is really speculative, but Powell posted this to his Instagram story today:

 

 

Obviously the CD releases are a big deal for Powell fans in general (HTTYD 2 DE and his new opera should be two of them, I believe), but I wouldn't be surprised if the digital only album is for Kenobi (as all the Disney+ music releases have been), and the 1 surprise track is a new Williams piece. Who knows...

 

Exciting times!

[Tom 4,633]

Surely this picture can generate some creativity on the board.  

 

[leeallen01 2,133]

Regardless of the quality of the show, Johnny will show up as always. No one likes Rise of Skywalker, not even the people who made it, but Johnny's new theme for it is so fantastic. Mainly because it's about the entire meaning behind the legacy of Star Wars for him personally. You could feel it. Obi Wan represents so much weight for what Williams has done over the years for the saga, so I expect this new theme to have just as much meaning from Johnny's efforts. 

[Andy 4,079]

I like Rise of Skywalker, film and score. 
 

This is just splendid news. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I like the film but it's very bad

[Andy 4,079]

Nah it’s just good fun. 
 

I wonder… will it be used as a traditional television theme played in full at the beginning? Or as a “bumper” and end credits style like the Mandoverse shows?

[Tallguy 3,361]

A theme for Obi-Wan? Wow! I wonder if he'll write a theme for Luke? 😉

[michael_grig 464]

https://media.tenor.co/videos/113330b032b615249ce4422968ccf22b/mp4

 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

John.

[SingeMoisi 4]

Woo! That's some great news! Crazy to think how busy John is at his age, and how talented he still is.

[A. A. Ron 1,738]

How long has it been since John's last TV theme? Is this the first one he ever wrote for a streaming project?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, A. A. Ron said:

How long has it been since John's last TV theme? Is this the first one he ever wrote for a streaming project?

 

2008 for the PBS Great Performances theme.  1985 for a fiction television show (Amazing Stories)

[WampaRat 1,105]

With such a meaningful “legacy character” at the center of this series, I’m glad they appear to be approaching this music in the classic Star Wars tradition. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Goransson/Shirley’s work for the other SW shows. But this (musically) has the potentially to be something special. Especially with the Maestro guiding the tone and style of the score:)

[crumbs 14,300]

14 hours ago, Michael G. said:

https://media.tenor.co/videos/113330b032b615249ce4422968ccf22b/mp4

 

 

"Well I did say I was retired from Star Wars, but... ohh, screw it!"

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

The best thing is, even if it’s another desert Western pastiche (like Mando and Boba), hearing Williams’ take on that will be incredible. And if it’s not a Western, even better.

[Once 604]

Will this make Williams the only person involved with all three Star Wars trilogies, their spin-off movies and now the television shows?

Anthony Daniels would only need to appear in one of the Disney+ shows, I guess, but for now I think Williams is the one consistant part of making of this franchise - spanning 45 years. Simply unbelievable.

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Just saw this great perspective in the FSM thread

I love putting things in perspective like that.

I know this is basically only of personal interest, but my great-grandmother was born in 1912, 20 years before Williams. I often thought about that and talked to her about it.

 

She was 65 years old when she went to the cinema to see the the first Star Wars movie (in 1978) and the biggest take-away for her was the music. Years later I introduced her properly to John Williams and at the age of 107 she listened to The Rise of Skywalker with me by her side. Many of my memories with her are tied to John Williams - and the other way around.

This theme and the upcoming The Fabelmans will be the first scores written by Williams (for the screen) I won't be able to share with my great-grandma and that feels strange. But also reassuring. I hope Williams has at least as many healthy years ahead of him as my 20-years-older-great-grandmother had!

 

Anyway! Yay! New music by Williams! Always a great reason for celebration!

[crumbs 14,300]

Just occurred to me MM was right all along.

 

When TROS came out, Williams was saying publicly he was retiring from the series.

 

But around the same time, Mike said he'd be open to returning in the future if the right project came along and Disney asked him to do it.

 

And here we are.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

4 minutes ago, crypto said:

he'd be open to returning in the future if the right project came along and Disney asked him to do it

 

Reminds me of the story of back in the 90s when he was reportedly insulted that they hadn't even asked him if he'd do the Shadows of the Empire multimedia thing.

 

Guess they learned their lesson.  Always ask!

[crumbs 14,300]

A minor but not insignificant detail: is this Williams' first scoring project for a female director?

[King Mark 3,625]

I hope he recorded somekind of 4-5 minute piece even if they use only 1 minute of it on the TV show

[crumbs 14,300]

11 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Reminds me of the story of back in the 90s when he was reportedly insulted that they hadn't even asked him if he'd do the Shadows of the Empire multimedia thing.

 

Guess they learned their lesson.  Always ask!

 

He was more insulted he wasn't asked to score the Star Wars Holiday Special.