Legendary Star Wars composer John Williams returned to a Galaxy Far, Far Away to create a theme for the title character in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but aside from that, we heard relatively little of his work. That was understandable with Natalie Holt tasked with creating the show's main score, and she waited until the finale before making use of Darth Vader's classic theme.
There had been other opportunities throughout the course of the Disney+ series, but it wasn't until the Sith Lord was warned to stop hunting for his former Master by Emperor Palpatine that we first heard "The Imperial March."
During a recent interview with Screen Rant (via SFFGazette.com), Holt explained that it was director Deborah Chow's decision to not rely on that classic piece of music until Vader's final scene in Obi-Wan Kenobi. "When I started up on this project, we weren't sure that we were going to be allowed to use the John Williams themes," she reveals. "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.' 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," Holt concluded, "she wanted to explore his journey to get there."
It's interesting that there was a time Obi-Wan Kenobi may not have been allowed to use "The Imperial March," especially when Williams returned to create a new theme for the Jedi Master. It's possible Lucasfilm simply didn't want the show heading down that route, though there's always a chance complicated licensing issues came into play with this being a streaming project.
Regardless, we'd say Holt did a phenomenal job. Saving that classic theme for the finale also worked really well, and pretty much confirms that Anakin Skywalker is truly gone...at least until his son, Luke, manages to get through to him in Return of the Jedi
What did you guys think about how Obi-Wan Kenobi used the "Imperial March"?