One of the most iconic parts of the Star Wars franchise is John Williams’ fantastic scores. He has composed the music for all of the seven films so far, and he’s not done there. He was already brought back to score J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens last year, which went on to gross just over $2 billion dollars. Williams’ music was both nostalgic to previous installments and also introduced some modern themes for the new characters.
Williams has obviously had a long, celebrated career in which he has created some of best movie themes ever composed. The Force Awakens was a nice return to form for him, and, luckily, he’s on to do the next installment as well. According to a report from MassLive, Williams announced that he will score Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII, hitting theaters in December 2017. He apparently was unsure about returning for yet another huge film, but he accepted the invitation from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy “mainly because he was enchanted by actress Daisy Ridley’s portrayal of Rey and does not want another composer scoring her scenes.”
Rey was a major highpoint for audiences in The Force Awakens, particularly with the enticing theme that Williams composed for her. And since the character will be coming back for Episode VIII, it’s only natural that her composer should join her. We still don’t know much about the upcoming installment, but at least it will have some familiar sounds to it.
Star Wars: Episode VIII opens in theaters on December 17, 2017.