How Game of Thrones inspired the Willow series to use classic and indie rock in its score
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With its cheeky tone and sense of fun, Willow doesn't feel like the fantasy shows that have been dominating the television landscape of late.
Its soundtrack helps set it apart even further, as it cuts to rock tracks, with the first major needle drop, The Beginners and Night Panda's "Guess Who's Back," coming at the end of episode 1. Similarly, episode 2 closes with Sir Jude's "Hurdy Gurdy Man," a folk-song-meets-rock track.
There are plenty more needle drops to come. But why did showrunner Jonathan Kasdan want to dot his fantasy series with these decidedly more modern tracks? Well, for starters, he was inspired by Game of Thrones.
"There's a great, great needle drop in an episode of Game of Thrones when Jaime gets his hand cut off," he tells EW. "It's one of the most shocking ends ever. But you see his hand get cut off, and then it cuts to black. It's some band that they loved covering this 'Bear and the Maiden Fair' song. It just rocked, and it jolted you. I never shook that idea that we could do something like that here."
Lucasfilm Ltd.
To be precise, it was in season 3, episode 3 of Thrones, "Walk of Punishment," and U.S. indie rock band The Hold Steady recorded the cover of the song, which is a popular folk song in the fictional Westeros.
But of all of his creative choices, Kasdan was most nervous about how audiences might respond to these big musical swings. "You know that when you're going to do a thing like that, there's going to be a very vocal part of the fan base that is going to see that as validation of everything they believe is wrong with the world," he says. "Which is that you've taken their beloved thing and somehow changed it."
"But we all felt like the spirit of the show and the soul of it was about teenagers finding out who they are," he adds. "This felt like an opportunity for something that, like a lot of things, felt inevitable — that you could do this kind of music in a fantasy setting."
Willow's first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes on Wednesdays.
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