Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi, which hails from director Deborah Chow, bridges even more of the gap between the events of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope, providing a glimpse into what the titular Jedi (played by Ewan McGregor, in his return to the role) was up to while lending a watchful eye over a young Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely) growing up on Tatooine — from a distance, of course. The threat to the twin descendants of Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen/James Earl Jones), still looms, and when Princess Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair) is kidnapped from her home planet of Alderaan, her adoptive father Bail (Jimmy Smits) calls in a favor to an old friend, which sends Kenobi on a mission to rescue Leia before her father can be made aware of her existence. In the process, he's also forced to confront his former Padawan, as well as finally let go of the guilt he's shouldered ever since the events that occurred on Mustafar between them years ago. The series also stars Moses Ingram, Sung Kang, Rupert Friend, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Maya Erskine, Zach Braff, Simone Kessell, Joel Edgerton, and Bonnie Piesse.

In the weeks following the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Natalie Holt, who serves as composer on the Disney+ series, about bringing her own sound to the Star Wars universe. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Holt discusses how she was first brought on after composing the score for Loki, when John Williams became involved with the series, how her original Obi-Wan Kenobi theme ended up in a different place in the show (and which scene it shows up in), trying to figure out what the perfect theme for young Princess Leia would be, which scene she was most excited to score, and more.

Collider: I would love to hear the story of how this opportunity came about for you. Did Disney approach you? Was it something that you had expressed interest in? I know this isn't the first Disney property that you've worked on, but how did it come together?

NATALIE HOLT: There were just a few factors. I think Loki being out there, and showing some big melodies, I think that got them interested. They contacted my agent and asked for my reel, and they said they wanted to hear some more emotional music as well. So I included some things from Distancia, and My Mother and Other Strangers. Some more string, emotional, melodic writing, as well as the Loki stuff.

That just seemed to be what Deborah [Chow] and Kathleen [Kennedy] were looking for, and they felt struck the right balance for them of what they were looking for in Obi's world, because he's a lost soul in the desert. It wasn't going to be a quirky, strange score. It needed to be more respectful to the John Williams land of things.

I'm glad you brought that up, because it's not the first time that you've gotten to play in a pre-established world, with characters that are already pretty well-defined. How do you approach a project of this nature? Does that change your approach? Or does it not change your approach at all?

HOLT: Marvel hasn't got a house style, in such a way that Lucasfilm has. Certainly for its heritage characters. So I didn't feel like, "Oh, I've got to play by the rules" at all with Marvel. They just seemed open for anything. I just threw so many weird elements together in that, and it worked for the show, just the different natures of time, and the strands coming together with the slightly frenetic tapestry of musical instruments and genres I was using. Whereas the heritage characters that I'm working with in Kenobi felt more that I needed to pay attention to the balance between the old and the new. It was more just being really careful.

I mean, I froze a bit at the beginning, and wrote loads and loads. Deborah said a lot of people, when they come on board, [are] like a rabbit in the headlights for a few weeks. "I'm on a Star Wars project." And then they suddenly just try super hard, and then they get used to it and calm down, and then that's when they find their voice within the franchise. She said that to me afterwards, because I think I was definitely trying a bit too hard at the beginning, and then I settled into it.

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Image via Disney+

RELATED: You Can Now Listen to the 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Soundtrack

Did you go back and watch any of the movies? Did you listen to previous scores? Or did you not really want too much of that in your head, informing what you were doing?

HOLT: Well, we weren't sure if we were going to be allowed to use John's themes, because he wasn't on board with his Kenobi theme yet at that point. So at the beginning, it was a bit more like, "We want to do something bold and new and different for Star Wars," maybe more minimal or more emotional and spare.

Once John came on board, it was a problem because it's like, "Oh gosh, but how are people going to feel if they're seeing Darth Vader, and they're not hearing his theme, and there's no payoff in Episode 6?" I can't write a new Darth Vader theme. I was a bit worried about that.

But John coming on board, he watched it through and gave permission for us to use his themes in Episode 6, and in various points, and so that unlocked the style palette a bit. And him writing that Kenobi theme. Yeah. It just made it more clear, like, "Okay, he's set the tone, and I've got the tent poles now, the parameters within which to write."

How far was it into production? Do you remember how far you were into composing?

HOLT: I only had a month, really, before he came on board, So it wasn't too bad. But I wrote a Kenobi theme, which Deborah liked actually, and we ended up keeping it. It's called "Holding Hands." It's where Obi and Leia hold hands in Episode 4. That was my original Obi theme, and it turned into the Obi and Leia friendship theme. But I did put a little bonus on the album as well, because I recorded "Ready to Go," which was also a version of the friendship theme that I did for Obi and Leia.

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In terms of character motifs, what were some of the differences between what you would compose for someone like Obi-Wan versus Leia or even Vader? What were the defining instruments that you wanted to lead with to reflect those characters?

HOLT: Deborah came over when I got the job in December. She came over to London for two days, and we watched through all episodes, and chatted, and just got our heads together, and I played her a few themes that I'd come up with, including that Inquisitor's theme. She was like, "Oh yes, this is perfect." She wanted something modern, and rhythmic, and driving. So that Inquisitor's theme was an early slam dunk.

The young Leia theme, I did many versions of, actually. The first thing I did was more like the adult theme, and it had a flute, and then that felt wrong. It didn't feel joyful enough. Deborah was like, "She's gutsy and full of energy running up trees. She's not a Disney princess. So it needs to have drive and pizazz." I think Version 6 or whatever we ended up going with felt like the right balance. [Deborah] wanted it to open out and feel really epic over the shot of the Alderaan forest as well. Hopefully, you feel that soaring taking-off feeling when you first meet Leia.

And then we've got Vader. I love that street sequence when he first walks down. You see him walking down the street, just choking people left, right, and center. Pure rage. We've never seen him be so evil. That was an incredible moment to have some input into. But I used the Imperial March rhythm. But then you've hunting horn, and a drone flute, and pitch-shifted double bass. Just the lowest, gnarliest sounds in the orchestra. It's quite atonal. It just feels like swirling rage.

It's funny that you say that Leia took a little bit of work, because I feel like it wouldn't be Leia if she was easy to figure out.

HOLT: That's so true.

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Image via Disney+

Was there a scene that you watched for the first time where you were like, "I can't wait to get to write the music for this"?

HOLT: It was probably the Vader street walk, I think. "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm scoring this." Just the way it shot and everything. It was just these big action set pieces with stormtroopers, and I really enjoyed that. Big fight sequences where Reva's storming the hold in Episode 5. There's just loads of moments. There's such cinematic uses of the lightsaber colors. When I first watched it through, just the whole thing, I thought, "Oh my gosh, this feels really special to get to be able to work on this."

Is there anything that you can presently talk about that you are currently working on?

HOLT: There's a film out that I scored called The Princess on Hulu, and that's an action Kill Bill movie, that kind of style. A lot of medieval instruments and electric guitars. So that was quite fun to do. I'm scoring Loki Season 2 in the autumn. And Batgirl.

Is there anything you can tease about Batgirl?

HOLT: No, I don't think so. (laughs) Not without being told off.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is currently available to stream on Disney+.