Film Music Reporter

Xander Rodzinski has revealed on his official website that he is the composer of the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eight episode of the upcoming Disney+ original series Willow. James Newton Howard is scoring the first three episodes of the show, which is developed by Jonathan Kasdan & Wendy Mericle based on Ron Howard’s 1988 feature of the same title and stars Warwick Davis, Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, Tony Revolori and Amer Chadha-Pate. The fantasy drama produced by Lucasfilm follows an unlikely group of heroes who set off on a dangerous quest to places far beyond their home, where they must face their inner demons and come together to save their world. Rodzinski has previously collaborated with Howard on numerous projects over the last couple of years, including A Hidden Life and Lucasfilm’s Light & Magic, for which he contributed additional music, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, News of the World and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon and Jungle Cruise, on which he served as the score producer. Willow is set to premiere on November 30, 2022 on Disney+.

Rodzinski is also composing the music for the upcoming western Dead for a Dollar. The film is written and directed by Walter Hill (48 Hrs., The Warriors) and stars Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Rachel Brosnahan, Hamish Linklater, Benjamin Bratt, Brandon Scott and Warren Burke. The movie follows a famed bounty hunter who runs into his sworn enemy that he had sent to prison years before while on a mission to find and return the wife of a businessman who is being held hostage in Mexico. Berry Meyerowitz (Out of the Blue), Neil Dunn (Imaginaerum), Carolyn McMaster (Walk All Over Me), Kirk D’Amico (The Last Word) and Jeremy Wall (Obsession) are producing the project. Dead for a Dollar is expected to be released this fall by Quiver Distribution.