Making full use of one of its (many) cash cows, Disney plans to produce Star Wars films until the end of cinema. The studio already has a new trilogy in the works from Rian Johnson, plus another series of films spearheaded by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. However, they and whoever else ends up making Star Wars movies will find themselves without the services of the franchise’s most prolific contributors: composer John Williams.
Williams has penned the music for all eight films making up the core “Skywalker Saga,” from the original trilogy to the prequels to the current series featuring The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens. He’s set to do the same for J.J. Abrams’ 2019 entry, Episode IX, and is said to have written the theme to the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story. However, the composer, who won an Oscar for 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope, told California’s KUSC that will likely mark the end of his career in a galaxy far, far away.
(Read: Ranking: Every Star Wars Movie and TV Show from Worst to Best)
“We know JJ Abrams is preparing one [Star Wars movie] now that I will hopefully do next year for him,” Williams told the radio station. “I look forward it. It will round out a series of nine, that will be quite enough for me.”
In related news, Williams has bequeathed all of his concert works, sketchbooks, and film scores — including his Star Wars work — to his alma mater, The Juilliard School. Williams announced the bequest at an alumni event in Los Angeles recently, saying he was proud to give Juilliard students access to his work.
“Since my earliest days as a fledgling piano student, I have looked up to the Juilliard School as the Mecca for the study of music in our country and beyond,” Williams said (via Slipped Disc). “It’s therefore a privilege for me to donate my sketches, papers, and scores to Juilliard, to be made available to those students particularly interested in the intimate processes of film scoring.”
For the rest of us, there’s always John Williams’ front lawn.
