Composer Kevin Kiner is no stranger to the world of “Star Wars” — he scored the character of Ahsoka Tano for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars: Rebels.”
When he learned he was going to be part of Disney+’s “Ahsoka” and he would take the former Jedi from animation to live action, he wanted audiences to understand that she was a veteran warrior.
Having legacy themes from the animated shows gave him a soundscape to draw upon. He then recruited his children Sean and Deana to help him score the music for the eight-part series starring Rosario Dawson.
To track Ahsoka’s journey into adulthood, Kevin knew that Ahsoka’s melody would differ in that she’s a female heroine, one who has gone through a lot. “She’s had to endure things in her life. All she has known is war since she’s been a young girl. It’s a theme that lends itself to that complexity — even though it’s a very simple melody — and those simple melodies can be arranged and drawn out in different ways.”
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Additionally, she’s a character trained by Anakin (Hayden Christensen), who later becomes Darth Vader, so she is in a constant state of being worried that she will end up embracing the dark side of the Force. Cello and viola players were instructed not to play too perfectly. “We talked about them having a raw sound,” says Kevin.
Deana learned how to play the flute, and a variety of ethnic flutes, taking inspiration from classic samurai film scores. “Deana found this tourist flute in Hawaii for $8, and it wound up making a lush, overtone percussive sound,” the elder Kiner explains.
Sean adds that the samurai sound was already something baked into the DNA of the “Star Wars” sonicverse.
And while the composers looked to move the music of “Ahsoka” forward, they still found other ways to honor the past.
With Ahsoka’s journey tied to Anakin, Sean called to John Williams’ score from “Phantom Menace.” And at the end of the series, an unused music cue that was originally in a “Star Wars: Rebels” scene with Ahsoka and Anakin, but the Kiners felt the spirit of the music was ideal. “It was right for the emotional moment between Ahsoka and Anakin in the final moments of the series,” says Sean.
