"Star Wars: Episode VII" might be flush with new talent behind the lens, but there's at least one constant coming forward from the previous six installments. Composer John Williams — yes, he who devised that infamous d-d-d-dah dah! theme — is officially back in the fold.

Lucasfilm Prez Kathleen Kennedy hit up Germany's "Star Wars" Celebration Europe this weekend and confirmed the news that Williams would be back and presented a nice little prerecorded video of him speaking on the film.

"Having worked on all of the six films, I'm just happy to be continuing to be a part of the of whole fun of doing it," Williams said. "I haven't seen the script, so the story is still unknown to me, the new story, but I can't imagine that there will not be some references to the existing stories that we know that would necessitate and make appropriate the use of some of the earlier themes."

The composer added that he finds the creatives on board (namely, Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams) are "perfectly chosen to continue George Lucas' great odyssey."

Kennedy, meanwhile, offered a production status update during her part of the chat, saying that at this stage in the game, it's a matter of proper character development, choosing the right locations and determining how much CGI use to employ.

"The story and characters are all we're talking about right now," she explained of her current workings with Abrams and company. "We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don't have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing."

Kennedy added that she intends to replicate the set formula of the first six, which combined "real locations with special effects" and is excited at the prospect of helping "push the technology" when it comes to the film's visual effects range.

"Star Wars: Episode VII" is penciled to begin production in England in January.