Thomas Newman has been hired to score the upcoming 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise, ‘Skyfall,’ Slashfilm is reporting. The Academy Award-nominated composer replaces David Arnold, who has worked on every ‘Bond’ film since 1997’s ‘Tomorrow Never Dies.’

While several helmers worked on the films, including Michael Apted, Martin Campbell and Marc Forster, they all brought Arnold back to compose the score. Newman’s hiring is noteworthy because he’s not well-known for action, instead working on scores for such family and comedy films as ‘WALL-E,’ ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’

Newton, who has composed such recent films as ‘Iron Lady,’ ‘The Help,’ ‘The Debt’ and ‘The Adjustment Bureau,’ is a frequent collaborator with ‘Skyfall’s director, Sam Mendes. Newman has worked with the Academy Award-winning filmmaker on such films as ‘American Beauty,’ ‘Road to Perdition,’ ‘Jarhead’ and ‘Revolutionary Road.’ ‘Skyfall’ is currently shooting under EON Productions.

Monty Norman has often been created with creating the iconic James Bond theme, and has received royalties since 1962. However, John Barry arranged the song for ‘Dr. No,’ which was released that year, and 11 Bond films since. Arnold took over for Barry, and established the music that has been included in the most recent Bond movies. Newman stepped in for Barry, who is busy working as the musical director for this year’s summer Olympics in London.

Written by: Karen Benardello