Ludwig Göransson talks us through composing the fantastic music for the first season of The Mandalorian, and why he’s excited for the second.
There are a lot of reasons to recommend The Mandalorian, the first-ever live action Star Wars series currently streaming on Disney+. The central relationship of the story, between hardened bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and the endlessly adorable Baby Yoda, is precious. The show moves along at a brisk pace, serving up lots of action and adventure along the way, and it looks like season 2 is going to be even better than season 1.
And then there’s the music by Ludwig Göransson, which has a spaghetti western feel that still feels rooted in that galaxy far, far away. It sounds like that part of the show was on track from the very start.
“I went down to his office in Playa del Rey,” Göransson told Deadline, remembering his first meeting with The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau. “As soon as I go in there, I see Jon in the middle of this big room, and he’s surrounded by all this incredible visual art for the show. Jon comes up to me and starts telling me about the show, about his inspiration— about samurai movies and Westerns—and I was just kind of astounded, and really inspired. I think from the very start of our conversations, I got to understand that it was going to be a really fun experience.”
After getting the gig, Göransson went to the studio and began experimenting with instruments you don’t normally hear in Star Wars movies, like woodwinds, to create something that would sound unique. After a month of work, he emerged with five songs. From the moment he played Din Djarin’s theme for Favreau, it was on. “He pulled me aside, and I took my phone out and played him the first notes of the Mando theme,” Göransson recalled. “And a couple of seconds in, Jon just stops and is like, ‘Hey, this is it. That’s the sound of the show.’”
Man, the music in this show is so good. I remember hearing it and instantly thinking it was a perfect fit. Obviously, no one’s going to take John Williams’ place as the composer most associated with Star Wars, something Göransson acknowledges up front, but I think Göransson did a great job of working within the sound Williams had set up to do his thing, and I can’t wait to hear more of it.
“I was so lucky on the show, where every episode, we recorded with a 70-piece orchestra, with the LA Studio Symphony at Fox,” Göransson remembered. “That’s one of my favorite parts of the process, when you’ve written all this music and you get to the stage, and you’d be able to hear 70 people putting their human touch, playing their instruments and really making it come alive. Especially for something like Star Wars, that was incredibly needed, and you can really tell the dynamic that comes with that. It really makes a difference.”
With the coronavirus still at large, we imagine the composition process is going to be trickier for season 2, but Göransson sounds psyched about what’s ahead. “We started a couple of months ago, and I’m extremely excited. Jon’s taking the story into places that I didn’t know existed, and I think it’s so fun.”
There can’t be too many snags, because The Mandalorian season 2 is due out on Disney+ in October.
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