Lin-Manuel Miranda has cleared up speculation about why he didn’t return to write new songs for the recent Moana sequel.
The Hamilton creator co-wrote the music for the first Moana movie, with the film’s signature tune How Far I’ll Go even winning a Grammy and landing nominations at the Oscars, Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards.
Since then Lin-Manuel has worked with Disney on a number of occasions, contributing songs to Encanto, the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid and the new Lion King movie Mufasa, as well as starring in Mary Poppins Returns.
However, his work was noticeably absent from Moana 2, which he addressed at the Mufasa premiere on Monday night.
Speaking to People magazine, Lin-Manuel explained that because the film actually began life as a TV series, before the decision was made to adapt it for the big screen, Disney “already had their songwriters”, and as a result, there “was never an opportunity” for him to work on Moana 2.
Lin-Manuel added that he was “really proud” of the film’s songwriting team, made up of Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, for their work in the new movie.
Moana 2 has already been a huge hit at the box office since its release last month, although critics were unanimous in saying that it paled in comparison to the original film.
In fact, some went as far as saying that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s absence was one of the key reasons that Moana 2 didn’t manage to live up to its predecessor.
Moana 2 is in cinemas now, with Mufasa slated for release on Friday 20 December.
