The music from Star Wars is arguable the most iconic ever, and composer John Williams deserves most of the credit. Now that Star Wars has found a home in the streaming era, however, it’s time for fresh voices to add their own flavour to the galaxy far, far away. And has Nicholas Britell not been the most interesting composer to contribute to the Star Wars soundtrack? Andor, the next live-action Star Wars series, has the title tune composed by the same person responsible for what is widely considered to be the finest opening theme in the history of television.
Andor focuses on Cassian Andor, a character originally seen in Gareth Edwards’ harsh Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and offers a realistic, almost adult story of his transition from thief to Rebel spies. The series, starring Diego Luna once more, premiered with three episodes on Disney+ on Wednesday. In honour of the premiere, Britell performed the three opening title themes he created for the first three episodes; he will perform a total of 12 for the season. In the show’s production notes, series creator Tony Gilroy claimed that they are “moving on a completely another path” from the work that Williams has done in the past, and that they are establishing a “new musical vocabulary” for the project.
According to him: Each opening scene is unique, and each version has a new orchestration and unique take on our theme courtesy of composer Nic. There will be 12 of them in total in the programme. It won’t take long for people to decipher what he’s done with them. In my opinion, they are stunning. The first few minutes of the pilot’s rainy opening sequence brilliantly set the stage for the rest of the show, which is best described as another Gilroy endeavour in which he investigates the interaction between individuals and corporations. And Britell’s first episode theme is bleak yet uplifting, keeping the space opera’s scope but adding an electronic edge.
The music grows more wistful as the plot dives further into Cassian’s history; the second episode’s theme is predominated by strings and has an almost romantic aspect. The stakes are raised in the third episode with the introduction of Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), and the music reflects this with a more intense tone. At this point, Cassian has started his journey toward becoming the selfless man he would ultimately become by the end of Rogue One. Williams, who did extraordinary work on all nine main films; Michael Giacchino, who came in at the last minute to work on Rogue One; John Powell, who composed the score for Solo: A Star Wars Story; and most recently, Ludwig Göransson, who worked on both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, are among the composers who have contributed to the (live-action) Star Wars films and shows prior to Britell.
The music for Obi-Wan Kenobi was composed by Natalie Holt, making her the first female composer to work on a live-action Star Wars film. Britell’s other notable works include Andor and Succession, but his symphonic masterpieces for filmmaker Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Underground Railroad have brought him widespread acclaim. This year, for the film, Don’t Look Up, directed by Adam McKay, he received his third nomination for an Academy Award. There are currently three episodes of Andor available to watch on Disney+.