Star Wars is a series that has a rich history in sound. Whether it’s the opening scroll, battle themes, or just mood music, Star Wars has some of the most recognizable sound in all of film.
One composer who recently worked on the franchise is Natalie Holt, who crafted the soundtrack to Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Having also worked with Marvel on Loki previously, Holt shared with Comicbook.com the biggest differences in working between these two goliaths.
The composer explained that things were very different with Star Wars having already established a signature sound and feel.
“Loki didn’t have any music [already] associated with it, particularly. The character didn’t have his own kind of distinctive theme. And also I feel like the music in Marvel isn’t such a kind of house style. People are more used to just like, “Oh, there’s this one and this one and…” Mark Mothersbaugh and Alan Silvestri wrote very different Marvel scores and everyone just kind of accepts more [variety]. So I guess I didn’t feel that enormous pressure when I landed the job, of needing to fit into an amazing musical style, [like what] John Williams had set up. So that was just a huge pressure because I’m such a big John Williams fan as well.”
Continuing, Holt went on to further detail how the soundtrack to Loki was driven by the idea of encompassing all of the music from across time and culture, while for Obi-Wan Kenobi it was all about capturing the emotion.
Holt also spoke about the added pressures of coming into the Star Wars franchise with it already having established its signature sound and theme. She explained that she felt that there was a big responsibility on her shoulders to do the franchise justice.
In the past few years, Holt has composed for a variety of massive franchises including of course Star Wars, Marvel, and DC with the soon-to-launch Batgirl film.
Fans can check out all six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming now on Disney Plus.
