Did you know that Jabba the Hutt has a musical theme written by John Williams? It’s not one that’s talked about a lot, because it was largely cut from Return of the Jedi. Not only that, but Williams wrote an entire concert piece around the character using a tuba as the primary instrument. But in the final cut of the film you can only hear it played lightly by woodwinds while the Hutt negotiates with Leia in disguise. I’m not sure why it was cut, but if I had to guess, the tuba may have undercut some of the tension and danger surrounding Jabba, making him less of a villain and more of a joke.

Whatever the reason, you can now hear it used much more prominently in the Special Edition of A New Hope during his scene with Han Solo, and in The Phantom Menace as he prepares to start the podrace. If you want to learn a lot more about this theme, check out the Return of the Jedi episodes of the fantastic podcast, The Soundtrack Show.