Composer Kevin Kiner knows his way around the Star Wars franchise quite well, with this portion of his filmography including the animated shows The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch and Star Wars: Tales. And then there’s Ahsoka, which marked his first time scoring music for a live-action Star Wars series. Kevin Kiner will be back for Ahsoka Season 2, one of the handful of details that’s been shared with the public, but looking back on Season 1, the composer told CinemaBlend what some of his favorite music moments were, and Hayden Christensen fans will appreciate what he mentioned.
Anakin And Ahsoka’s Clone Wars Flashback
During my recent conversation with Kiner, which included him explaining why it’s difficult to score for Grand Admiral Thrawn and teasing how Dave Filoni has started preparing him for Ahsoka Season 2, Kiner also told me which scenes and moments from the finalized Ahsoka Season 1 episodes he was most happy with how they matched up with his music. Starting off, after reaffirming his satisfaction with the end credits, he highlighted a major moment in the episode “Part Five: Shadow Warrior”:
Well, I'm super satisfied with the end credits as I've already said, but in terms of scenes, I just rewatched Episode 5, which is when, you know, Hayden Christensen shows up. And again, we went crazy when we saw that. There's a moment where [Ahsoka] says, ‘What if I won't fight anymore?’ And [Anakin] says, ‘Then you will die,’ and then she goes, ‘Well, I’m not gonna do that,’ and he says something like, ‘Wrong answer.’ And there's the building of the horns and the brass, and then it goes back into the World between Worlds. He kicks young Asoka, and then present-day Asoka winds up on her back in the World between Worlds. So it's just before we go to that, I was really happy hearing that again. I heard it freshly. I hadn't listened, you know, since we scored the thing. I think that building of horns was really cool. It was very short.
At the end of the prior episode, “Part Four: Fallen Jedi,” Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano came face to face with Anakin Skywalker, her former master in the World Between Worlds. Then in “Shadow Warrior,” she found herself re-experiencing some memories from the Clone Wars, with the teenaged Ahsoka being played by Avengers: Infinity War’s Ariana Greenblatt. But rather than unfolding like traditional flashbacks, Hayden Christensen’s Anakin was helping her work through her issues, which ultimately required the firm hand of him lightsaber-dueling her and knocking her back to the World Between Worlds. It was a unique transition between scenes, and Kevin Kiner was pleased with how the music matched with it.
Ahsoka Communicating With The Purrgil
Keeping our eyes planted firmly on Ahsoka’s eponymous protagonist, Kevin Kiner (who worked on the series with his children Sean and Deana) then pivoted his attention to a moment she had with the purrgil, those gigantic space whales capable of naturally traveling through hyperspace that were introduced in Star Wars Rebels. As the composer recalled:
When Ahsoka’s reaching her hand out to the giant purrgil and she's out on the wing and communicating with him, I was really happy with how that cue turned out. It was a magical moment, but it needed a deft hand. It couldn't be too magical. When I was listening to it, I was like, ‘Wow, that turned out really cool.’
After cameoing in The Mandalorian Season 3, the purrgil made their full live-action debut in Ahsoka, with Ahsoka Tano and Huyang landing their ship in the mouth of a purrgil to hitch a ride to Peridea, where Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati and the captured Sabine Wren had gone, and where Ezra Bridger and Thrawn had spent years exiled. It was a fitting form of transportation considering that the purrgil took Ezra and Thrawn to that planet at the end of Rebels too, even though we didn’t know their destination at the time.
Baylan Skoll And Morgan Elsbeth’s Themes
Finally, Kevin Kiner spent a little time talking about how pleased he was how the themes for Baylan Skoll and Morgan Elsbeth, two of the chief antagonists in Ahsoka Season 1, turned out. In his words:
I love when Baylan Skoll and his apprentice show up. I’m really happy with Baylan’s theme and Morgan Elsbeth’s theme. So I gave you a bunch of different answers, but on the soundtrack, you can hear Baylan’s theme and Morgan's theme, I think it's Track 2 of Part 1 called ‘Master and Apprentice.’
Unfortunately, given that Ahsoka killed Morgan in the Ahsoka Season 1 finale, we won’t be hearing that music on the show again, although you can learn more about the latter’s origins in three of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire’s episodes. As for Baylan Skoll, Ray Stevenson passed away shortly before Season 1 premiered. So although the end of “Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord” indicated Baylan’s story was far from over, it hasn’t been announced yet if the character will be recast or retired, at least in an onscreen capacity.
As always, CinemaBlend will continue passing along news on Ahsoka Season 2 and the other upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows. For the Hayden Christensen fans reading, remember that he also appeared in the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries, and also check out the congratulatory message he recorded for The Acolyte’s Amandla Stenberg ahead of that show’s premiere.
