Back in 2019, when writer and director Jon Favreau asked composer Ludwig Göransson to score “The Mandalorian” TV series for Disney+, Göransson used new tools and introduced a new sound to the “Star Wars” universe. That distinct and lonely bass recorder became the theme for the helmet-wearing bounty hunter, while his sidekick Grogu had a four-note motif.
Building on his earlier work, Göransson’s score commands “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” and he doesn’t hold back, using a 70-piece orchestra to weave in elements from the film’s sound design to go big and deliver an epic-cinematic score.
The film is a continuation of the series and follows Din Djarin (a.k.a. Mando) and Grogu as they navigate a galaxy still recovering from the fall of the Galactic Empire, with Imperial warlords scattered throughout. The fledgling New Republic works to protect what the Rebellion fought for and turns to the bounty hunter and his young apprentice for help.
Göransson’s “This Is the Way” opens the film with an eight-minute cue that exemplifies how he wove in alarm-like sounds with percussion and synths. He says, “The first time you see Mando, alarms are going off in the building. I was using the alarms as part of the music, timing the music with the alarms.”
