How John Williams Put His Special Touch On The Obi-Wan Kenobi Score
The success of the "Star Wars" saga stems from multiple important parts coming together and sticking with audiences for years to come. The unique worlds, eye-catching aliens, and goosebump-generating moments get plenty of credit, but one would be remiss not to highlight the remarkable scores that have helped bring a galaxy far, far away to life. Composers such as John Powell, Kevin Kiner, and Ludwig Göransson have all done an incredible job providing background music for a range of projects, though few can hold a candle to the orchestral stylings of the legendary John Williams.
Since the late-1970s, John Williams has lent his musical prowess to the "Star Wars" universe, and it's better for it. We have him to thank for "Duel of the Fates," "Binary Sunset," "The Imperial March," and countless other songs that enhanced the visuals of the nine Skywalker saga films, as well as spin-off media like "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" to a lesser extent. For some time, it appeared as though his work on 2019's "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker" was his final foray in the sprawling franchise, but as it turns out, that's not exactly the case.
To give the upcoming Disney+ show "Obi-Wan Kenobi" a bit of extra oomph and accomplish something he wanted to decades ago, John Williams added his own special touch to the score. Here's how.
Williams is responsible for the Obi-Wan Kenobi theme
John Williams didn't ultimately return to the Lucasfilm fold to score the entirety of "Obi-Wan Kenobi," so that responsibility fell on the shoulders of trailblazer Natalie Holt. However, he did at least contribute to the overall project by writing and composing a theme for its main character, as portrayed by "Star Wars" icon Ewan McGregor. "He really wanted to write that theme because he was the one character that he didn't write the theme for in the original movie," said Holt in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, adding that it was as if Williams wanted to come back to "Star Wars" to reach that goal.
Continuing, Holt reveals that although Williams only technically created one track for the limited series, he gave the team a lot to do with it. "He came on board and wrote the 'Obi' theme and a suite, which is the main title, and then a few variations of how the 'Obi' theme can work," she recalls, likening his contributions to a gift and noting that his work on Kenobi's theme laid the foundation for the music around it. Holt mentions that in her own work, she maintained the exact same instrumental lineup as Williams but didn't shy away from experimenting with a few new sounds as well.
John Williams' music will forever be synonymous with "Star Wars," so it's great to hear that his fingerprints are on the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" score. Surely his work will complement that of Natalie Holt perfectly throughout the program's six-episode run.