It was very recently confirmed at Star Wars Celebration Europe (currently going down in Germany) that movie music maestro John Williams will be composing the music for STAR WARS EPISODES VII-IX. This isn’t really news, of course – Williams’ music is as much an essential part of the Star Wars Universe as the lightsaber.

It is still comforting that while George Lucas isn’t going to be directly involved with the continuation of the series (beyond an honorary role as a “consultant) the new team – director J.J. Abrams, exec producer and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and co. are apparently not cutting ties with what made previous Star Wars episodes work.

I just hope that Williams is blessed with continued good health – the man is in his 80s now, and the workload required for three big, narratively and thematically linked films could take its toll on anyone, let alone a man who could have deservedly retired decades ago.

But really, who else could have done it? No-one even comes close to John Williams. People have bandied about Michael Giacchino’s name because of his links to Abrams, and it’s true he shares some of Williams’ stylistic choices – emotion-fuelled, mythic, classical scores punctuated with brass and strings, but I don’t think Giacchino is quite the “heir to Williams” he is sometimes proclaimed.

With Williams on board, I’m hoping an announcement will follow that Ben Burtt will still be leading the sound department. With Williams, Burtt and ILM’s special effects, the new films will have a solid technical and artistic foundation to build upon. Then we’ll only have to worry about the direction, script, casting and acting. Only indeed… SSP