John Williams will return to score Star Wars Episode VIII

Even as the world mourns the recent death of Kenny Baker — the actor who was inside R2-D2's can for the original Star Wars movies — we're reminded that most of the people behind those classic films are still around, and gratifyingly willing to be involved with new movies. One of the franchise VIPs, composer John Williams, has just confirmed that he'll return to compose the score for next year's Star Wars Episode VIII.

"Speaking at a Boston concert of his work," notes Radio Times, "Williams told the crowd that he was soon to start work on Rian Johnson's sci-fi sequel after seeing an early cut of the footage, and was mainly returning so that no other composer would get the chance to write music for Daisy Ridley's Rey."

This will make Williams eight-for-eight in writing music for numbered films in the Star Wars saga — starting with the original trilogy (1977-1983), then George Lucas's controversial prequels (1999-2005), and now the sequels being produced without Lucas's involvement. However, this winter will see the release of the first full-length live-action Star Wars film not scored by Lucas: Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat will do his damndest to emulate Williams for the spin-off Star Wars: Rogue One.

It's difficult to overstate Williams's importance to the success of the Star Wars franchise, and the influence of his work on younger generations of composers. Deliberately echoing the grand symphonic sound of Hollywood's golden age, Williams made the orchestra cool again; his retro aesthetic dominated film scoring through the 1980s and into the 1990s, when composers like Hans Zimmer started to reintroduce electronic sounds and rock instrumentation to blockbuster film scores.

Now aged 84, Williams has been lauded to an almost ludicrous level: his most recent Star Wars score, for last year's The Force Awakens earned him a 50th Oscar nomination, meaning that only Walt Disney has earned more nominations. (Appropriately, Disney's company now owns the Star Wars franchise.) Still, health challenges are compelling Williams to slow down at least a bit: last year's Bridge of Spies was the first Steven Spielberg movie without a Williams score in 30 years.

Security is sure to be as tight around Episode VIII as it was around Episode VII, so even the track list for Williams's score will likely be embargoed until the movie hits theaters. Williams did let the Boston audience know that there's one crucial plot detail not even he knows yet: the identity of Rey's parents.