John Williams Says He'll Be Scoring ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ — Also He's a Huge Rey Fan

Another classic John Williams score is coming to a galaxy near you. Williams, whose symphonic music has been a key feature of all seven Star Wars films, is 84 years old, but he remains passionate about composing music for the Star Wars saga. Speaking to an audience at Tanglewood’s “Film Night” in Massachusetts on Saturday, Williams announced he would begin working on the score for director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII in a few weeks after seeing an early cut. (Also, in case you were wondering, he claimed not to know the identity of Rey’s parents.)

Related: What We Learned About ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ and the Young Han Solo Movie at Celebration

According to Masslive, Williams said he took the job on the next Star Wars film because he loved Daisy Ridley’s portrayal of heroine Rey and hated the idea of another composer scoring her scenes. (Among the pieces Williams conducted at Tanglewood on Saturday was his “Rey’s Theme,” written for The Force Awakens.) However, Williams will not be composing the music for the anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (in theaters Dec. 16), which will be scored by Oscar winner and John Williams superfan Alexandre Desplat.

Related: Composer Alexandre Desplat on His 8 Oscar-Nominated Movie Scores

In a 2013 interview, John Williams stated that he would be interested in writing music for the entire new Star Wars trilogy (including Episodes VIII and IX, set for release in 2017 and 2019, respectively). His participation past The Force Awakens has not been confirmed by Lucasfilm.

Williams holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations by a living person; he received his 50th nod last year for The Force Awakens and received one of his 5 wins for the original Star Wars score.