If John Williams doesn't return to score the TFA sequels

If for whatever reason, the great Johnny Billiams doesn't score the spin offs or the TFA sequels, who would you envision as the next great Star Wars composer?

I'm personally of the opinion that Joel McNeely, the guy who scored the Shadows of The Empire multimedia project, would be a perfect choice. His scores were distinct and non-derivative while still feeling within the realm of Star Wars sound aesthetic. Now if only he could stop composing music for Tinkerbell direct to dvd trash.

Clint Mansell, my favorite composer. Listen to his work on The Fountain. I don't know that his style would suit a mainline Star Wars film, but a spinoff perhaps.

 

Giacchino is the only real choice.

 

He already said he plans on doing all of them, but if for whatever reason he's unable, then Mark Grisky would be a good chance. His scores for Knights of the Old Republic II and The Force Unleashed is heaven on the ears

 

Pretty much this. Though I think Disney already asked Williams if he had any personal picks to carry over in case he's not able to work

 

I really hope that the spinoffs go in different directions stylewise.

 

Same. I'd just really be interested in an experimental take on Star Wars that feels completely different stylistically but still definitely in the same universe.

 

Willams will score TFA I guess, but if he won't....A good choice would be Hans Zimmer from Batman and Interstella for example.

 

I amend my previous post; Alexandre Desplat would be brilliant.

 

Same here. JW can only ever be the #1 choice, but if that can't happen for one or any of the future films, I'd rather a complete change than some lame attempt at imitation, just as long as it retains the same SW flavour.

Nothing too radical (the classical-style score was a deliberate reaction against cheesy electronic nonsense polluting sci-fi films up until 1976, 2001: A Space Odyssey being the exception which pointed the way), but a classical score by a different composer retaining the established motifs, yet with a new twist, could be refreshing. Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman are the only ones that spring to mind right now.

Should it ever happen, my money would be on a total outsider no one's heard of, who makes his/her reputation by composing brilliant scores for the new films, despite initial obnoxious fan reception screaming "WHO?!?" Most established composers would probably be a bit nervy touching the JW legacy upon the SW franchise, anyway.

 

Just no... while I absolutely love the guy (second favourite after JW) his style just doesn't match Star Wars. HZ is great at atmospheric music, but his melody writing leaves a lot to be desired. And that is where JW comes into a world of his own. Hans wouldn't get the Star Wars feel.

I would probably jump on the band wagon and say it's got to be Michael Giacchino.

I mean come on... How awesome is this tune.

 

Depending on a different stylistic approach, I pick Eric Serra. Give the score to The Fifth Element a listen.

 

Definitely gotta be Giacchino. Very young for a composer of his skill level and experience at only 47 years old, is a childhood friend of Abrams and has scored many of his projects such as Lost, Cloverfield and the Star Trek movies, and is one of the last top composers to still use live orchestras. Not to mention all the Academy Awards and Grammys he's won and been nominated for with projects such as Up, Ratatouille and The Incredibles.

Love this piece:


I think he's destined to replace Williams. I love Williams and it'll be near-impossible to get someone again of his talent, but I know that the franchise would be in good hands with Giacchino. It's kind of already happening with him replacing Williams in the new Jurassic World movie. Besides, he'd hardly have to compose many more pieces, they could just re-use Williams' old music.

 

Howard Shore for sequels
&
Vangelis for (a) spin-off(s)

 

Giacchino. An impressive list of work in a short amount of time.

 

Giacchino has the romantic goods.

 

That video doesn't work I am afraid.

 

Strange. He must've deleted it right after I posted it, because it was working earlier.

It's The Incredibles' Main Theme by the way.

 

James Newton Howard would be my top pick. He has a firm grasp of the fantasy genre, as proven with The Last Airbender and last year's Maleficent. Other good candidates would be Christopher Young, David Arnold, and John Debney. I'm honestly not a big fan of Giacchino. His action music just sounds "goofy" to me and his dramatic music is repetitive.

 

A lot of music is repetitive.

Steve Jablonsky or Jeremy Soule

 

It's not just the repetition. Too many of Giacchino's themes rely on generic "emotional music" chord progressions. It was great in Lost (which I firmly believe is one the best TV scores of all time) but it got stale by John Carter and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. His most recent work, Jupiter Ascending thankfully strays away from that which gives me some hope that he could pull off a Star Wars score.

Jeremey Soule would be an interesting choice, even though I consider his KOTOR score a huge missed opportunity (though it's probably due more to technical limitations of the time than anything else). I'm not sure he's quite ready for film composing yet. I don't want another Nicholas Hooper/Harry Potter situation where a relatively inexperienced composer is given the reigns of a respected franchise, leading to questionable results.

 

Kevin Kiner is the only choice.

 

I'm not a fan of Kiner either. I hate his reworking of the Star Wars theme in The Clone Wars. It's absolutely cringe-worthy. As for the underscore for the series, it's okay but completely forgettable. It's a shame they couldn't get John Williams to do it.

 

I wish they were ballsy enough with Rebels to let Kiner's original themes shine.

But then again Rebels just doesn't feel like it's really Star Wars to me (yet), so I'm biased.

I didn't realize Giacchino did Jupiter Ascending. That movie was sheer crap. It's funny though, at one point I thought, this is some pretty good romantic golden age music.

 

If John didn't make them they wouldn't exist. They would be so awful that they wouldn't exist "from a certain point of view" My view.

 

Well If rumors are true then Williams has already begun scoring TFA but if he cant meet the bell for episode 8 and 9 then my choice would be Giacchino or Hans Zimmer, Zimmer did a good Job making an Epic Score for the Simpsons movie that did a good Job of Copying Alf Clausen's Style so I am sure he can do a John Williams style score....