The Best Musical Pieces From Each 'Star Wars' Movie: Part 2 – 'Star Wars Stories' And More

Star Wars

Sep 29

Due to John Williams' age, The Rise of Skywalker will almost certainly be the last Star Wars movie he will be composing music for. However, there have been other composers, especially in recent years, such as Michael Giacchino, John Powell, Kevin Kiner, Gordy Haab, Ludwig Goransson, and even Joe McNeeley, who have taken over musical composition duties for other Star Wars content. They have all aptly demonstrated that they can bring their own signature styles to the galaxy far, far away in ways that are both new and familiar. In this article, I intend to talk about what I feel are the best themes in the two standalone films, Rogue One and Solo, as well as some noteworthy pieces from other Star Wars content through the years.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (John Powell)

This movie, set a several years after Revenge of the Sith and centering on a young Han Solo, is not scored by John Williams, but rather by John Powell. However, John Williams does step in to provide a leitmotif for Han ("The Adventures of Han"), which appears throughout the movie. As for the rest of the film, Powell deftly crafted action themes that blend in some of Williams' famous original trilogy themes with his own compositions and succeeds in creating a solid score. Solo is also one of the few Star Wars movies, outside the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace, to get an expanded soundtrack album release.

"Reminiscence Therapy" is probably my favorite piece from the film, playing over Han taking the controls of the Falcon and fleeing pursuing TIE Fighters in a bad neck of space, leading to his legendary Kessel Run. The piece blends in a lot of familiar music from "The Asteroid Chase" from The Empire Strikes Back.

Another one of my favorites is the new love theme, "Lando's Closet," written for Han and his first significant love interest Qi'ra. It plays over them meeting privately in Lando's wardrobe closet after having been apart for three years. Although nothing quite like "Han Solo and The Princess" from The Empire Strikes Back, it is a sweeping and elegant theme, reminiscent of classic Hollywood love themes. "Flying With Chewie" is also a nice piece, and it plays over Han and Chewie's escape from Mimban, which marks the beginning of their lifelong friendship.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Michael Giacchino)

Frequent J.J. Abrams collaborator Michael Giacchiano was given the job of composing for the first standalone Star Wars movie, set as a lead-in to A New Hope, after the original assigned composer, Alexandre Desplat dropped out of the project. Giacchino had very little time to write it but, for a rush job, it actually wasn't too bad. In addition to blending some of Williams' famous leitmotifs, he composed three new leitmotifs of his own for the movie, specifically, "The Imperial Suite," "The Guardians of the Whills," and last but not least, "Jyn Erso and Hope." The "Imperial Suite" was written as a new theme for the Empire, although the infamous "Imperial March" also makes a reappearance along with Darth Vader. "The Guardians of the Whills" was written for Chirrut and Baze, erstwhile guardians of an ancient Jedi temple on Jedha. "Jyn Erso and Hope" was written as Jyn's leitmotif and is heard several times during the movie, most notably in "Your Father Would Be Proud," as the Death Star plans are transmitted to the rebels in space and Jyn and Cassian face their ultimate fate.

Shadows of the Empire (Joe McNeeley)

In the annals of Star Wars content, Shadows of the Empire is a particularly unique entry in that it was a massive multimedia project released in the mid-1990's that consisted of a book, comic, video game, soundtrack album, toy line, literally everything BUT a movie. The story is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and features an intense rivalry between Darth Vader and a crime lord named Prince Xixor over the fate of Luke Skywalker and the Emperor's favor. The book also features the Rebels' efforts to find Han after being frozen in carbonite and spirited away by Boba Fett. It was Joe McNeeley, not Williams, who was brought in to "score" the story.

The soundtrack album starts off with the traditional "Star Wars Main Title Theme" and segues into the music from The Empire Strikes Back that plays over Han being frozen on Cloud City, which is meant to be what Leia is experiencing a nightmare about in the story ("Main Title/Leia's Nightmare"). There is also a really neat piece that plays over a scene later in the story where Luke and Vader sense each other through the Force, while they are both on Coruscant ("Night Skies").

The Clone Wars/Rebels/Bad Batch (Kevin Kiner)

For The Clone Wars and the subsequent Rebels and The Bad Batch series, composer Kevin Kiner was brought in to score. With seven seasons of music composed for The Clone Wars, four for Rebels, and one (so far) for The Bad Batch, this could easily be a massive section. However, there are a few cues I feel are most worth mentioning. "Yoda's Journey Ends" from The Clone Wars season 6 plays over Yoda's return from his "Force quest" and ruminations with Mace Windu over the Clone Wars. Interestingly, the piece starts with "Han Solo & The Princess" and segues into Yoda's classic leitmotif.

The Bad Batch arc in season seven introduces the group, as well as their leitmotif, which is carried over into the spin-off series. Kevin Kiner's score for the last arc of season seven (Siege of Mandalore) is some of his best work, especially "Race You To The Surface," as Ahsoka heads down to the surface of Mandalore with the Republic invasion force. "Burying the Dead" is a dark and ominous music that plays over Ahsoka and Rex burying the remains of clone troopers who died, as their Republic cruiser crashed into a moon. One of the most clever and fantastic pieces to come out of Rebels was "Hera Soars."

Jedi: Fallen Order/Squadrons (Gordy Haab)

I have only sampled a little bit of Gordy Haab's music. However, of all the alternate composers mentioned so far, his style seems the most Williams-like. He seems to have recently become the "go-to" composer for Star Wars games.

The Mandalorian (Ludwig Goransson)

Goransson was brought in to compose for the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, and, right off the bat, crafted an iconic main theme for the title character, Din Djarin, "The Mandalorian." Other notable pieces include a track from season 2, "Quite a Soldier," which includes a hint of Williams' "March of the Resistance" from the sequel trilogy and "Open The Door," which plays over Luke Skywalker boarding an Imperial cruiser to seek out Grogu. The piece also includes the full realization of the plaintive leitmotif Goransson wrote for Grogu, which he had been building up over the course of the second season.

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Mara Butler