Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the third film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, pays tribute to the Star Wars films that came before it by hiding snippets of previous Star Wars original scores by composer John Williams within Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s soundtrack. As the ninth and final film that marks the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s soundtrack acts as a nice bookend to all three trilogies as it revisits past themes from each of them, including George Lucas’s prequel trilogy.
The Star Wars franchise began back in 1977 with what is now referred to as the “original trilogy,” comprising of Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The prequel trilogy, which debuted between 1999 and 2005, followed up the original movies by exploring how Luke Skywalker’s father and main antagonist of the original trilogy made the transition from Jedi Knight to the Sith Lord Darth Vader over the course of three films: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. While the prequel trilogy received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, the smattering of music from both trilogies within the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker soundtrack may have been Disney’s subtle attempt to unite the Star Wars fandom and celebrate all of the films contributing to the Skywalker Saga.
Not only does Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker signify the end of the Skywalker era, it also marks John William’s retirement from the Star Wars universe since the franchise’s start 42 years ago. According to Don Williams, the composer’s brother, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s soundtrack is expected to have every theme fans have ever heard from Star Wars, although some may only surface in the form of a few bars. “Princess Leia’s Theme” and “Yoda’s Theme” are just a few that stand out from the original trilogy, but if you listen closely, you may spot some of the original scores previously heard in the prequels.
Return to Tatooine
Composed by John Williams, “Return to Tatooine” is featured in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in one of the scenes including Zorri Bliss, the former spice runner and Kijimi native portrayed by Keri Russell. “Return to Tatooine” originated on the Star Wars: Attack of the Clones album and is featured when Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) returns to his home planet of Tatooine in search of his mother, Shmi Skywalker (Pernilla August). Tracking down his mother’s whereabouts to a vapor farm, a somber portion of the theme plays in the background as Cliegg Lars (Jack Thompson), Shmi’s new husband, tells Anakin that his mother was abducted by Tusken Raiders and is presumed dead.
In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, “Return to Tatooine” is played shortly during the conversation between Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Zorri Bliss when Rey (Daisy Ridley) and company visit the planet of Kijimi to find the droidsmith Babu Frik. Poe and Zorri discuss how the fear the First Order has created is increasing among the Resistance members and reference the Battle of Crait, when the Resistance called for reinforcements at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Including “Return to Tatooine” in this scene from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker emphasizes the threat the First Order poses by harkening back to one of the moments from Anakin’s past that led him to join the dark side: his fear that he couldn’t save loved ones from death. Not only does it make this scene from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker more palpable, it reinforces the idea that fear is part of what fuels the dark side.
Battle of the Heroes
Originally from the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith album, John William’s “Battle of the Heroes” can be heard briefly in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker soundtrack during one of the opening scenes of the film. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the third and final film in the prequel trilogy, takes place three years after the start of the Clone Wars and follows Anakin Skywalker as he’s torn between his allegiance to the Jedi Order and his growing affinity for the dark side. The song is first played during two climactic fight scenes; the first between Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin on the volcanic planet Mustafar, and the second between Darth Sidious and Jedi Grand Master Yoda in the Senate.
Reappearing in the sequel trilogy, “Battle of the Heroes” returns briefly in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker during one of the early scenes when Rey is continuing her Jedi training under Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). As Rey has trouble fighting the Jedi training remote, she visibly grows more frustrated, throws her lightsaber, and instead uses a stick to skewer the miniature droid. Just as the song originally set the scene for the ultimate battles between the light side and the dark side in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, “Battle of the Heroes” emphasizes the same battle raging within Rey. During the scene, as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) senses Rey’s connection to the dark side, a short snippet of the song “Battle of the Heroes” plays in the background and subtly reinforces Rey’s struggle to either give into her blood connection to the dark side of the force as a descendant of Emperor Palpatine or to choose the light side.
General Grievous’s Theme
In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, one of the scenes involving General Enric Pryde, the Galactic Empire officer portrayed by Richard E. Grant, briefly plays “General Grievous’s Theme” from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in the background. “General Grievous’s Theme” accompanied the character for which it’s named, General Grievous, the cybernetic Supreme Commander of the Separatist Droid Army. An apprentice of Sith Lord Count Dooku, Grievous is known not only for his cybernetic enhancements, but also for wielding four lightsabers in a duel against Obi-Wan.
While the connection between General Grievous and General Pryde may not be obvious on the surface, “General Grievous’s Theme” may have been added to General Pryde’s scenes in order to foreshadow his place in Palpatine’s Final Order. In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, General Pryde addresses how he served Emperor Palpatine during the old wars and kneels in front of him. Because of his continued allegiance to Palpatine and his oath to serve the Final Order, it is implied that General Pryde might be an apprentice of Palpatine’s, and the throwback to “General Grievous’s Theme” may have been a draw for the audience to instantly suspect the worst of this character.
While it wasn’t featured in the actual film, one other Star Wars prequel theme, “Duel of the Fates,” was included in the promotional trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. John Williams’ theme “Duel of the Fates” was first heard during the epic duel between Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and the Darth Maul (Ray Park) in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Along with the “Imperial March” from the original trilogy, which has come to be known as Darth Vader’s theme, “Duel of the Fates” clearly appears in the trailer for the same reason the classic scores appear in the film, to remind fans of the connective throughout the entire Skywalker Saga.
