In March 2015, it was reported that Alexandre Desplat, who had worked with Edwards on Godzilla, would compose the score for Rogue One. Despite rumors that a contract had not been initially set in place by Lucasfilm, Desplat confirmed in an April 2016 interview that he would serve as composer for the film.

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Concerning the film, Desplat commented that “[Edwards and I] had a great partnership on Godzilla, and I can’t wait to be starting with him. It will be in a few weeks from now, and it is very exciting and frightening at the same time because it’s such a legendary project. To be called to come after John Williams … it’s a great challenge for me.” However, in September 2016, it was announced that Michael Giacchino would be replacing Desplat as composer, after the film’s reshoots altered the post-production schedule, and reportedly left Desplat no longer available.

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Giacchino only had four and a half weeks to compose the music for the film, beginning almost immediately after finishing production on Doctor Strange. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in November 2016, Giacchino stated: “It is a film that is in many ways a really great World War II movie, and I loved that about it. But it also has this huge, huge heart at the center of it, and that was the one thing I just didn’t want to discount. Yes, it’s an action movie, and it’s a Star Wars film, and it has all the things that you would come to expect and love about that, but I didn’t want to forget that it was also an incredibly emotional movie as well. That was what really pulled me in.”

Giacchino incorporated John Williams’ themes from previous films into the score. The official soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on December 16, 2016.

All music was composed by Giacchino except where noted. Giacchino, who has a history of using track titles that contain wordplay, shared his alternate list in the liner notes of the soundtrack release. These names are listed in the notes.