A little over a year ago, iconic composer John Williams indicated that the then-untitled ninth Star Wars movie would be his last time writing music for that particular universe, but for a guy who once said that he didn’t think his work with Star Wars was ever very “memorable,” Williams seems to be excited about The Rise Of Skywalker so far. Speaking with The Times (via /Film), Williams said that he’s already seen an “early cut” of the final film in the main Star Wars story, and he likes it “very much.” The Times also noted that he “beams” when he talks about it, and he has apparently already written 25 minutes of score in “about a month” of work.
Of course, the Star Wars movies—especially the recent ones—have been very referential with their music, even when quietly sneaking in subtle twists, so it’s probably fair to question just how much work 25 minutes or score really is. Maybe he watched an early cut of the movie and just took notes on the spots where he could slip in the main theme, the themes for Rey and Kylo Ren, and then maybe the Imperial March (since it seems like Palpatine is coming back in some way). That’s gotta be a good chuck of the score already. We’re not saying that Williams is lazy or that he’s not very good at what he does, we’re just saying that what he does is very easy and that we could do it for much cheaper if J.J. Abrams wants to, say, send us an early version of the movie as well.