Natalie Holt is the first woman to compose the score for a live-action Star Wars project. Holt worked on the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series, arriving May 27 on Disney+.
Holt’s new music is currently under wraps, but she gave a taste of what’s to come in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
Read more: When will Darth Vader appear in the Disney+ ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ series?
In the interview, Holt said she’s “thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as John Williams,” who “basically narrated [her] childhood.”
She discussed what it was like working with Williams and honoring the tradition of Star Wars through her music.
“I think it’s an emotional score,” she says. “And it does have its roots in the Star Wars tradition a little more than The Mandalorian does. We had a collection of 250 horns and flutes, and I used this hunting horn in the score. We’re also blending the orchestra with some more modern synth sounds as well. It’s definitely what we’re used to and a few new elements.”
She also spoke more specifically about the cultural inspirations behind the music for the series.
“There are some Latin influences in one of the planets,” she explains. “There’s some Thai, Hong Kong, some sounds that are more Eastern. Definitely you take flavors from around the world, and then try and turn them into something…otherworldly. You’re on Star Wars. You’re scoring a planet. It has to have scale.”
Holt previously composed the Loki series on Disney+.