John Williams reveals he wrote a Star Wars love theme for Luke and Leia

In a recent interview with Variety, the beloved film composer John Williams discussed his storied career. He also revealed an interesting nugget about Star Wars. He said that for the original Star Wars film, he wrote a love theme for Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

John Williams reveals he wrote a Star Wars love theme for Luke and Leia

Of course, this was before anyone knew, including probably George Lucas himself, that the revelation that Luke and Leia were brother and sister would come two films later. Williams' quote on this humorous note is worth reading.

"I mistakenly wrote a love theme for Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. I learned later that they were brother and sister, so it was an incestuous idea to have a love theme for them. But George never told us there was going to be a second film!"

- John Williams

We now think of Star Wars as this massive pop culture behemoth that has led to so many movies, TV shows, books, and video games, but it is worth remembering that not even a sequel was guaranteed when A New Hope was released in 1977. Eventually, Lucas decided that having Luke and Leia be brother and sister resolved the issue of the love triangle between Luke, Leia, and Han while fulfilling Yoda's promise that "there is another" in The Empire Strikes Back.

Williams also spoke at length about the direction George Lucas gave him for the first Star Wars film in terms of the tone and mood he wanted the score to evoke as people were introduced to this new world in a galaxy far, far away.

"George was very clear to me that the music should be symphonic...Because all the images you’re going to see are images of desolate places or places you’ve never seen before, with people wearing clothes you’ve never seen before. It’s all alien, the whole visual experience. So the emotional experience should be familiar. It should be a classical modality that describes heroism and romance and adventure and operatic emotions higher than reality."

- John Williams

It goes without saying that Williams accomplished this goal and then some. His music is such an indelible part of Star Wars that many fans can simply be stirred emotionally by the score itself without having the visuals and dialogue that accompany it.

While Williams said in recent years that he would retire, he appeared to walk back those statements last year. Who knows if that means he will work on another Star Wars project, but it is remarkable that the 92-year-old is still so active and willing to work.

No matter what, Williams is a huge part of Star Wars and his work on the franchise is a huge why the franchise is still relevant nearly fifty years after the first film was released.