Has John Williams agreed to Ep. 8 and 9?

I don't have any information at all, but I imagine as long as he is competent and able, he will score the main Star Wars Episodes, even if her retires from scoring everything else. Like Drew Struzman and the posters, he's retired, but someone says Star Wars, and he's like, okay, you got me.

 

I can only hope he's signed up for all of them, and continues to be able for a long time.

That said, there's some precedent for him to operate in different roles and still have substantial impact on the score of a series. For example, in Harry Potter, he composed and conducted the first 3 films (IIRC), but later film's composers continued the motif's he set (and certainly kept the main themes).

In any event, the main themes created for Ep. VII (certainly Rey's, 1st Order and hopefully some sort of Hero/Luke theme) will future proof the Sequel Trilogy.

 

So long as he's still capable, I believe he'll work on the ST. He probably hasn't signed anything official, it's more likely that the contract for TFA gives him "first option" at scoring VIII and IX.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 26, 2015, Original Post Date: Aug 26, 2015 ---

You are most certainly correct, but remember that one of the most iconic pieces in the saga didn't arrive until Empire (The Imperial March). Edit: By this, I mean that the first score doesn't necessarily set-up all the themes for the other two in the trilogy. I hope he is able to score the entire ST; I feel like he'll really get to stretch his talent for these films, more-so than he was able to with the prequels.

 

You're right that having Williams on more movies means more creative opportunity. (The Harry Potter statement was to help point out that the rest of the series without Williams wasn't bad musically, but also didn't produce anything nearly as memorable). The ST would get along if he only contributed to Ep VII, but we'd all clearly prefer him composing (and ideally scoring/conducting) all of them.

TBH the prequel statement is a little off: Williams delivered amazing Star Wars pieces in _every_ film and always got creative freedom, having a strong relationship with Lucas, and I dare say he got better over time. Looks like he's been let loose on the ST too, which is when he'll be at his best. All said, I went back and listened to the soundtracks again for this thread, and one can pull out contributions in each movie that stand next to each other. (Controlling of course for the fact the main theme and imperial themes have received 35 years of exposure, and are more recognized on average).

• ep1: Duel of the Fates
• ep2: Across the Stars, War theme ("Arena")
• ep3: Battle of the Heroes, The Funeral/Destiny theme.
• ep4: Main theme (of course) and Luke/New Hope theme
• ep5: Imperial theme / Yoda's
• ep6: Battle of Endor

If anything, after listening to ROTJ again, it could be the most constrained of the 6 movies. (still, the Ewok theme is fun, and the climax of the Vader/Luke battle makes up for it in a big way)

Not to mention that Williams did a lot more atmospheric work / metaphorical play in the prequels vs. the original which stuck to more Bellicose beats. (don't want to make the thread too long.... boy, could I go on...).

(edited for Grammaaar)

 

It's all on him. The man has a love for compositions, and he loves working with Spielberg and Lucas on music for their films I reckon as long as he stay healthy, it'll be fine and he'll do all of them. But I will say this - If he does do all 3, he may end his career there and get some much needed rest.

 

I've heard Jimmy Hart signed on for ep 8-9.

 

It'll be a sad, but long deserved day when it comes.

 

I would have said that Spielberg's 2017 film "Real Player One" would conflict but since that one's released date was recently announced in December (as opposed to VIII's May release) it probably won't be a problem. It all depends on Williams' decision (or any other yet unseen factors) whether or not score the film. I seriously doubt either one of the new directors will have the authority (or desire) to veto his involvement.

 

I LOVE "Into the Trap", to me he saved some of his best stuff for the end.

 

He's 83 now, so I don't imagine we have too much time with him left. If he's healthy, he can still do it of course.
I have a sinking suspicion that he won't get to finish writing the music for this trilogy, even if he has signed up to do it.

 

Into the Trap is fantastic.

Agree with the best stuff landing at the end of each trilogy (I think that's what you're saying at least). Into the Trap creates "urgency" and is also iconic/memorable, and amongst these other works, I don't feel like we get that in blockbusters too often. I think that's what makes Star Wars awesome... the music, the visuals, the story all work in concert with each other, all escalating to the finale.

 

If John does pass away before he gets the chance to work on Episode 8 and 9, they should hire Jeremy Soule to work on the score. Imo, he's the closest on capturing the essence of William's music:

 

Nothing make me remember being 10 years old like that! It's quite amazing.

 

There are multiple actors and creative people currently working today at ages 90 and above...hell, Harrison Ford himself is not a whole lot younger than John. Not sure why we're already killing him off in our heads.

 

To answer your question, we don't know if John Williams has agreed to do episodes eight and nine—at least nothing has been announced. It's possible that he has already written some themes for those episodes. I've always thought that John Williams would have several themes that he wrote for the Star Wars films but held off from using them because the themes didn't fit the film or the situation.

 

A starwars film without John Williams would lost half of the interest for me...
Is kind of a starwars film without Jedis or lightsabers.