Obi-Wan Kenobi Composer Explains the Lack of Imperial March in the Series

A lot of Star Wars noticed the lack of use of "The Imperial March" whenever Darth Vader shows up in the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series. They only ended up playing the iconic music during the character's final scene in the final episode after his conversation with Emperor Palpatine. So why did the series decide not to use a lot of the music despite its known association with the villain?

In a recent with Screen Rant, Obi-Wan Kenobi composer Nathalie Holt revealed that it was director Deborah Chow's idea to withhold the use of "The Imperial March" in Darth Vader's scenes until his last scene in the series where they felt it was the most appropriate time for them to finally play it.

"When I started up on this project, we weren't sure that we were going to be allowed to use the John Williams themes," Holt said. "Deborah [Chow] was saying to me, 'I think we need to score the show as if we're not going to be able to use them.'She was like, "I don't want to find out that we can't, so let's make it work without. Let's do our own thing.'"

She continued, "And she was saying, 'Actually, if we were going to use the Vader theme, I don't think we should use it until episode six, because he's still half Anakin, half Vader at this point. When his mask cracks open at the end, and he says 'You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. I did,' you realize now he's Vader, now he's earned his 'Imperial March'." Now when you hear it, it's so powerful. Deborah didn't want that theme playing every time you see Darth Vader, she wanted to explore his journey to get there."

As a result, Holt did not recycle the familiar themes that we know and she only inserted elements of them in a nuanced way as well as reflected the character's "super angry" state in the series compared to his appearances later on in the original trilogy.

"And I did use the rhythm from "The Imperial March" underneath the sound design. I had a hunting horn, and slowed-down double bass, the low end of the orchestra playing this really gnarly, angry theme with these war sticks and stuff," Holt explained. "Deborah wanted to have really visceral sense, when he's walking down the street kind of killing people, she's like "We've never really seen this side of Vader. He's in his prime. He's super angry, he's just full of rage.'"

"And actually, the Vader that we kind of see in A New Hope and onwards is much more measured, and we never see him lose control, or randomly kill people in such an evil way," she continued. "He's more thoughtful and centered. So, yeah. That was a very deliberate decision."

Holt also revealed that John Williams was able to watch the entire series and gave permission on using his themes in the final episode. She also worked with his longtime associate, Bill Ross, during the scoring of the episode in order to make sure that they are "hitting the right points."

Understandably so, the team at Obi-Wan Kenobi chose to create their own music rather than using the familiar themes that we know so that they can have their own identity and it's more appropriate for them in the context of the story. In the end, it still worked as it still felt like the familiar Star Wars theme that we've known for decades.

Also Read: Star Wars Icon Lied About Their Obi-Wan Kenobi Finale Cameo

All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are available to stream on Disney+.