John Williams’ score for Episode IX will include every Star Wars theme

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Legendary film composer John Williams has composed every score for every main STAR WARS movie (which excludes ROGUE ONE and SOLO) going back to the very first film in 1977 – creating the wondrous sounds that sweep us off to a galaxy far, far away. His work on the ninth “Episode”, the impending STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, will mark his final outing in the SW universe, and according to a new reveal from the composer’s brother, Don Williams, we can expect he will go out with one epic bang.

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Don, an accomplished musician who has spent his career touring with artists like Diana Ross and working on Broadway shows like “Phantom of the Opera”, is currently part of the orchestra for RISE OF SKYWALKER. He was on-hand recently at a discussion with the Academy of Scoring Arts (via /Film) where he opened up about working with his brother on the new score, who he revealed is writing about 135 minutes worth of music for the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster.

“John’s started up on another Star Wars. We started on it last week. He’s got 135 minutes worth of music to write, so that kind of tells how long the film is. It is top to bottom music. We’ve done four days and we just scratched the surface. I think we’ve got something like 34 minutes in the canon at this point.”

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At two hours and 15 minutes, that’s quite a hefty score, even for something as epic as a Star Wars movie. Every Star Wars movie has had a run time of over two hours, and for movies like that, the soundtracks often run at a bit over an hour. Not every track that Williams writes will make it into the final film, but it just goes to show you how much music the man is coming up with for this final outing, and perhaps hints at how long this Skywalker finale could be. If you were wondering if Williams would hit on any nostalgic beats for SKYWALKER as he has with the other recent movies, then you’re in luck, because Don revealed this score will not feature a few, several, or even a lot of past themes, but rather every Star Wars theme we’ve ever heard across the series.

“But I can tell you that every theme that you’ve heard is going to be compiled into this last effort. Leia, Yoda, ‘Phantom,’ Darth, all of it is going to be in there. And in his usual style, he hides them. You gotta go look for them.”

We can always count on Williams' music to do the job of carrying us off into the fantastical world of this amazing space opera, and from the sound of it, he and director J.J. Abrams want this movie to bring the whole Skywalker saga to a sweeping conclusion. It's one big story coming to a close, so Williams may want this music to feel unlike anything we've heard before while recalling the best of what his scores have offered in the past. As long as he includes the Ewok music, I'll be fine. 

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is in theaters December 20.