Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally here and the first two episodes lived up to the gargantuan hype. One of the best parts of the series so far has been the music. While the amazing main score is being done by Loki’s Natalie Holt, the Kenobi theme was done by John Williams. Everyone knows Williams as the musical legend behind the sound of Star Wars. The theme itself is classic Star Wars and Disney just released the new track, so every fan can jam out to their heart’s content till the next episode.
Obi-Wan, in its first two episodes, has been a classic tale of a fallen hero that has to come out of retirement and embark on a dangerous rescue mission, a mission that will bring him face to face with his past failures. That is reflected in Obi-Wan’s musical theme. It has the weighty horns and whimsically adventurous undertones you’d come to expect from the franchise, but it all comes with this layer of somber tragedy. Unlike past Star Wars pieces, the theme never gets too big or epic. Right when you think the music is about to blast you off into a galaxy far far away, it holds back.
It’s a much more reserved piece that fits our reluctant hero well. Instead of rising like most themes in the universe do, the Obi-Wan theme builds and builds until it ultimately falls to a lower register, a darker tone that the theme stays in for the remainder of its run time. Again, the theme has those iconic franchise feels, but you can learn a lot about Kenobi’s current state by just the music that accompanies him. He is a conflicted man torn in two different directions. On the one hand, he is trying to move on from his dark past and failures, but on the other hand, he is trying to still be the hero he once was by protecting the future saviors of the galaxy. It reflects a man that many fans know and love, but from a different, more mature, point of view.
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Williams has been around Star Wars as long as old Ben Kenobi himself. Throughout the 45-year history of the franchise, the composer has made some of cinema’s most iconic pieces of music. Not everyone is a Star Wars fan, but anyone can guess the franchise by just its famous title track. Williams has created so many pieces of music in this vast universe that has helped keep the series from feeling stale all these years later. Some of his pieces like his theme for Anakin and Padmé, “Across the Stars”, are some of the most emotional pieces of music ever written. His Obi-Wan theme continues the series’ rich emotional core while standing toe to toe with some of the best music in the franchise.
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are streaming on Disney+ right now. While we wait for episode three to drop next week, you can listen to Williams’ new theme for the series down below.
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