Movies

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Will Feature Music From 'Hamilton' Mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda

lin-manuel miranda star wars
By Jacob Hall/

Fans of space operas and historical musicals rejoice! Just when you thought Star Wars: The Force Awakens had achieved mass cultural saturation, the year's most anticipated film went out and recruited Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star, composer and lyricist of the massively popular Broadway show Hamilton. Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams had the nerds and families locked down tight – now they've going after that elusive musical theater crowd.

But in all seriousness, it's like the folks behind the scenes of the Star Wars machine had a big meeting and wondered "Hmm, how can we get Jacob Hall of /Film more excited in a movie he's already frothing at the mouth to see?" And they've found a way. Damn you, Star Wars. You've got me.

Read on for more Lin-Manuel Miranda Star Wars news.

Abrams recently appeared on The Tonight Show, where he revealed that Miranda contributed music to a sequence set in Maz Kanata's castle. Although this character, a diminutive alien played by Lupita Nyong'o, remains mysterious, we do know that she's a mystical, Yoda-like figure whose home base is essentially the Mos Eisley Cantina of The Force Awakens. Everything indicates that Miranda's music will be an "in-world" song, most likely from an alien band entertaining a room full of crazy creatures. If you want to invite comparisons to the original iconic cantina music, as heard in 1977's Star Wars, you need to hire a certified genius to make sure the new song up to snuff.

And Miranda, who previously won a Tony Award for his 2008 musical In the Heights and will probably win a few more next year, is a genius. Literally. They just gave him the MacArthur Genius Award and everything. Anyone who can write and star in an emotionally resonant and historically solid hip-hop/R&B musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, America's first Secretary of the Treasury, has to be a genius. Hamilton is so very, very good.

Miranda himself confirmed the news on Twitter, dropping a Sarlacc reference to show off his geek credentials:

Now all we need is for Miranda to make a "Burr shot first" joke the circle will truly be complete.

Although the actual score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was written by the great John Williams, this isn't the first time someone else has stepped in to contribute music to a single scene in a Star Wars movie. Williams' son, Joseph Williams, contributed "Lapti Nek" (a.k.a. the song performed at Jabba's Palace) in Return of the Jedi. Although Miranda's music could be an instrumental, it would be hilarious if he made up a whole bunch of alien lyrics and had them performed with the speed and density of a musical number from Hamilton.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015.

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