With Moana 2 nigh on the horizon after an eight-year absence, fans are all wondering the same thing: Is Lin-Manuel Miranda writing songs for Moana 2 like he’s running out of time, or is he throwing away his shot?
There’s only one sure-fire way of producing musicals that turn into massive hits in Hollywood; bring Lin-Manuel Miranda on board to write them for you. Now, we’re not saying there aren’t any other talented songwriters and librettists out there, but after a string of era-defining songs on Broadway and then Disney’s own Moana and Encanto, not to mention the universally acclaimed Hamilton, Lin-Manuel is everyone’s go-to creative for musically elaborate projects.
Besides, the man has already turned one Moana movie into a success, so what can stop him from accomplishing the feat a second time? Well, according to the reports, either Disney or Miranda himself may not necessarily share our enthusiasm.
Is Lin-Manuel Miranda returning for Moana 2?
According to a recent report by Variety, Lin-Manuel isn’t reprising his role as songwriter for Moana 2. Grammy Award-winning songwriters and composers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear are replacing Miranda as the chief librettists, while Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi will once again return to score the movie.
Barlow and Bear collaborated on The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, a series of songs released on TikTok and based on the first season of Netflix’s Bridgerton. The album ended up going viral and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2022, making history as the first album on the platform to win such a prestigious trophy. The two are also the youngest winners in the Best Musical Theater Album category, so it’s not a particularly surprising leap from there to one of Disney’s most anticipated animated films.
Lin-Manuel has a long history with Disney, but Moana was the project that kickstarted it all. In the years following his work on “How Far I’ll Go” (which you can check out below) and bagging both Grammy and Golden Globe nominations, Miranda went on to write music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, DuckTales, 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Encanto, and even 2023’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
Miranda most recently appeared in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians television show, where he played, rather aptly, the role of Hermes from the Greek pantheon. The award-winning creative is also working on a stage musical adaptation of The Warriors by Sol Yurick.