I wasn’t super thrilled and my expectations for future Star Wars scores are at an historical low point. But I found Michael Abels’ and Cameron Moody’s efforts for The Acolyte very ok. Much better than anything from Holt, Britell or Göransson or any other of his Mandalorian stand-ins.
I assume technically Newman could go in a direction like Shadow of the Empire. But I don’t think he will.
Until Solo obviously the understanding of every composer like McNeely, Powel or Giacchino was, “this is Star Wars, so I will provide a Star Wars score.
But Göransson started this “They hired me, so I will provide a Göransson score.” Let’s see how Newman will handle this. With him it could go both ways. Let’s see if we are going to get a Star Wars score or a Thomas Newman score.