Rian Johnson Confirms Key Detail About the 'Star Wars' Opening Fanfare

The opening theme to Star Wars might be one of the most iconic and recognizable pieces of music in cinema history, with virtually every film fan able to hum at least a few bars of the John Williams-created tune. While each episodic entry into the saga features the familiar fanfare, The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson recently shared on the film's commentary track that, while the theme always sounds similar, Williams conducts a slightly different arrangement of the track to include small tweaks to more accurately represent each film's tone.

"If you listen to all the movies every single one of them has a slightly different take on the mix of the fanfare," Johnson shared in the commentary. "Some are brighter, some are warmer, The Force Awakens one has a lot of kind of sharper tack to it. We went with kind of like a warmer type feel."

Johnson has regularly praised Williams' work on not just this film, but throughout the entire Star Wars saga. In hopes of honoring the composer's latest contributions to the franchise, fans who purchase the film through Movies Anywhere will gain access to a score-only version of the film, which removes all dialogue.

"Basically, we did a mix where there is no dialogue, no sound effects, no backgrounds — nothing but the score just playing at regular, perfect level," Johnson shared during a recent Q&A. "So you can watch it like a silent film just with John's score. And I tell you, if you do this, it's incredible because you see the nuance that he rides the emotion of the scenes with. And just being able to just focus on that music…"

Fans will have to prepare themselves to say goodbye to Williams' work on the saga soon, as the composer claims that crafting the music for Episode IX will be his final contribution to the franchise.

"J.J. Abrams is preparing [Episode IX] that I will hopefully do next year for him," Williams shared previously. "It will round up the series of nine that will be quite enough for me. Disney will take it further and they will probably continue on to do Star Wars for decades. So I think it's all good."

Williams did help craft the theme to Solo: A Star Wars Story while John Powell created the music for the rest of the film.

Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on May 25th. The Last Jedi is available now on Digital HD and on Blu-ray on March 27th.

Have you noticed differences in the Star Wars themes over the years? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T Film School Rejects]