The Best Musical Pieces From Each ‘Star Wars’ Movie Part 4 (The Sequel Trilogy)
Maestro John Williams returned to the galaxy far, far away to score the third and final trilogy of movies in the Star Wars franchise. While the soundtracks bring back some nostalgic leitmotifs from the original trilogy, Williams also created a new palette of themes that follow a new generation of characters through the final trilogy. Sadly, it appears that these films will be the last ones Williams scores within the Star Wars franchise. However, Williams should be lauded that he managed to complete the magical musical journey he started with A New Hope and ended with The Rise of Skywalker forty-two years later.
Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens
Williams, thankfully, returned to score the entire sequel trilogy, starting with The Force Awakens. As with The Phantom Menace, Williams created several new leitmotifs that set the stage for the entire sequel trilogy, including "Rey's Theme," "March of the Resistance," and a leitmotif to represent one of the new villains, Kylo Ren. Even the Millennium Falcon got its own heroic music, which could be heard as Rey and Finn steal the iconic ship from a Jakku junkyard and used it to flee a squadron of First Order TIE Fighters ("The Falcon"). Williams also crafted a delightful "Scherzo for X-Wings" to accompany Poe's X-Wing squadron's attack on Starkiller Base. Although not included on the soundtrack album, Williams even incorporated a cue from A New Hope as Rey triumphantly used the Force to steal Luke's lightsaber away from Kylo Ren at the end of the film ("The Return Home").
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Star Wars: Episode VIII- The Last Jedi
Williams did not break a ton of new ground in The Last Jedi but created memorable new leitmotifs for Rose Tico and an elder Luke ("The Rebellion is Reborn"). Also, he incorporated Leia's classic leitmotif from A New Hope ("Princess Leia’s Theme") as she used the Force to take her back to her cruiser after being blown out into space during a First Order attack ("The Supremacy"). He also wrote some memorable action music for some of the more climactic moments in the film, such as Rey and Kylo's battle against Snoke's Praetorian Guard ("A New Alliance"), Luke visiting the Resistance and preparing to face the First Order ("The Spark"), and Luke and Kylo's fateful encounter ("The Last Jedi"). In addition, "Yoda's Theme" from The Empire Strikes Back returned to underscore Master Yoda’s return as a Force ghost to help Luke. He also composed some new music for the Canto Bight cantina, reminiscent of the cantina music he wrote for A New Hope. The Full of Sith Podcast did a three-part podcast series on the intricacies of Williams' score for The Last Jedi and it is definitely worth listening to.
Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker
Williams capped off the final entry in the Skywalker Saga with a ton of nostalgia, incorporating several leitmotifs from nearly every film in the Skywalker Saga while creating a few new ones. The best one was the pastoral and soaring "The Rise of Skywalker," which could be heard throughout the movie in scenes featuring our heroes, ("We Go Together," "They Will Come," and "Farewell"). Williams also created the "Anthem of Evil," a theme written to symbolize Palpatine's return and the emergence of the Final Order. "A New Home," which played over Rey's journey to Tatooine to "bury" Luke and Leia and construct her own lightsaber, was uniquely mysterious. Also of note, Williams made a surprise cameo in the movie in an appearance as a bartender on Kijiimi.