The Emmy nominated composer for the Marvel TV series Loki, Natalie Holt, is heading to a galaxy far, far away. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Holt revealed that she will be serving as a composer on the upcoming Disney Plus series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is a massive milestone, as she is the first woman to score a live-action Star Wars project.
Holt will be collaborating on the sci-fi series with the legendary John Williams, who composed the score for the original Star Wars theme in 1977. Williams will reportedly be debuting an original piece for Ewan McGregor’s version of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, who in the series is 10 years into his exile on the planet Tatooine. “Obviously, I’m just thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as John Williams,” Holt said. “It’s been exciting and overwhelming at times, because I’m such a fan. I want to pay respect to the history of it, and do it justice as well.”
However, despite having Williams on her team, Holt also has some clear direction of her own vision and how she wants the sound for Obi-Wan Kenobi to play out.
“For me, the tentpoles are set out by John Williams. There are elements to the show that are new and fresh, and I’ve been able to have my own interpretation with elements—that I can’t reveal. So it’s been glorious, working with my hero and also bringing my own voice to the show.”
Currently, there are no spoilers or teasers for the score for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The trailer for the series deliberately used the well-known Star Wars theme ‘Duel of the Fates’, which Williams composed back in 1999 for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. But, luckily Holt did provide a brief description of Williams’s upcoming new theme for the series to keep us all satisfied until the Obi-Wan Kenobi release date.
“It’s reflective, and it’s just entirely appropriate. And it distils what the show is about in just the perfect way that John Williams can,” she explained. “It’s wistful, but there’s an element of hope to it. It’s doing something new, and I think people are going to be really blown away by it.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi is scheduled to premiere on Disney Plus on May 25, exactly 45 years since the release of Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. While we wait for the show to drop, here is our guide to The Mandalorian season 3.