Mary Poppins Returns: How Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Character Connects To The Original Film

I’ll admit it, when I first heard that Lin-Manuel Miranda would be joining Mary Poppins Returns, the first thing I thought was, “Oh yeah, so he’s pretty much going to be the Dick Van Dyke of the film.” There was no evidence to this thought, and I had little reason to actually believe it, but as it turns out, that’s actually kind of what he ended up being.

If you’ve had a chance to check out the trailer for Mary Poppins Returns, you may have noticed that his character, a lamplighter named Jack, seems to already know who Mary Poppins is and is, in fact, excited about the prospect of meeting her. So how does he know about the magical nanny, and what his overall connection to that original classic film?

RELATED – Mary Poppins Returns Trailer Brings The Spirit Of The Original

During a set visit, /Film had a chance to speak with Miranda, and he was more than happy to shed some light on the matter.

“Yeah, you know, Jack is a lamplighter. He apprenticed under Burt from the original films (played by Dick Van Dyke) so he knows all about Mary. He knows that Mary shows up and stuff’s going to happen and cool adventures will be had. So it’s really nice to play the Burt position in this film. You kind of get to go on all the fun adventures with the Banks family.”

So, like many people, it looks like my instincts about the lamplighter, played by Miranda, were spot-on. For better or worse, Mary Poppins Returns seems to be set on recapturing the feeling, tone, and style of that original movie, and if the trailer is to be believed, it looks like they’re well on their way to doing that.

What do you think of Miranda’s comments? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: /Film