While legendary composer John Williams was announced to be contributing the main theme to the new Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series, it’s British composer Natalie Holt who will be scoring the complete soundtrack for the series. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Holt, the first woman to ever score a live-action Star Wars project, reveals the process behind scoring the series.
What’s Happening:
- Holt previously composed the score for Marvel Studios’ Loki, and next up will be working on DC’s Batgirl film.
- Her work for Obi-Wan Kenobi is yet to be heard, as the trailer features Williams’ “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
- “Obviously, I’m just thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as John Williams,” Holt says. “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.”
- Obi-Wan is a legacy character that Williams hadn’t written a theme for because he died quite early on in A New Hope. So he spoke to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and said, “I just want to write Benny a theme.” And he did, he wrote the Obi theme, and it just embodies the spirit of the show entirely.
- Holt describes the new theme as “reflective, and it’s just entirely appropriate. And it distills what the show is about in just the perfect way that John Williams can. 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.”
- She notes that her score holds its roots into the style of Star Wars music more so than The Mandalorian. It’s a mix of what we’re used to and some new elements, such as modern synths.
- You can read the full interview with Natalie Holt over at VanityFair.com.
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