Composer John Williams has been an integral part of the Star Wars series since the first movie back in 1977. Williams has scored every film in the ongoing Saga since then, including last year's The Last Jedi. However, the 86-year-old movie music legend has now confirmed that he will stop with next year's Episode IX.

　　In a recent interview with Californian radio station KUSC, Williams explained that his ninth Star Wars score would also be his last. "We know JJ Abrams is preparing one [Star Wars movie] now that I will hopefully do next year for him," he said. "I look forward it. It will round out a series of nine, that will be quite enough for me."

　　Williams provided the iconic music for the original trilogy, the much-maligned prequel trilogy, and both The Last Jedi and 2015's The Force Awakens. In 2016, Alexandre Desplat became the first new composer to tackle a Star Wars movie, when he was hired to score the spin-off Rogue One. Bourne Identity composer John Powell will score the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story, although Williams is still set to provide the movie's main theme.

　　Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on May 25, and the first trailer was released last month. It stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, and Donald Glover as Lando, plus Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

　　In related news, it was also announced last month that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write and produce a new series of Star Wars movies. Disney confirmed that these films will be separate from the current Skywalker saga and the trilogy of movies that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is working on.