Ludwig Göransson is fairly new to the music-for-screens game, but it surprised no one when his score for the billion-dollar “Black Panther” — a deft swirl of blockbuster orchestra, hip-hop and authentic Africana — prompted his first Oscar nomination (and three Grammys on Feb. 10). The Swedish composer spoke to Variety in the midst of scoring the Disney Plus “Star Wars” spinoff series “The Mandalorian.”

Did you have any sense of the cultural impact “Black Panther” would have?

After seeing a four-hour cut without any score — the first edit that [director] Ryan [Coogler] had done — I remember calling my fiancée [violinist Serena McKinney, whom he married soon after] and saying, “I think this is the ‘Star Wars’ of our generation.” It’s something I’d never experienced before. My mind was blown.

You’re Swedish and writing music based on African rhythms and instruments. How did you approach that?

After reading the script, I knew I...