Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda Explains Why Some Actors Play Two Roles (aka Double Casting)

Lin-Manuel Miranda is opening up about the decision to have some actors in Hamilton play two different characters.

Four actors play dual roles in the musical: Tony winner Daveed Diggs takes on the roles of Marquis de Lafayette / Thomas Jefferson, Anthony Ramos plays John Laurens / Philip Hamilton, Jasmine Cephas Jones plays Peggy Schuyler / Maria Reynolds, and Okieriete Onaodowan plays Hercules Mulligan / James Madison.

During the live-tweeting party for the Hamilton movie, Lin said, “I realized early that characters that were important early in his life fade away while others appear later. The double casting was so that we’d be INSTANTLY invested. ‘Jefferson? Hey that’s Daveed!’ Same w Laurens/Phil.”

In the first song, when Anthony sings, “Me I died for him,” he is referring to both of his characters. Both John Laurens and Philip Hamilton died while defending Hamilton’s honor.

Daveed sings in the song, “We fought with him.” His characters Lafayette and Jefferson both fought with Hamilton in different ways. Lafayette was one of Hamilton’s close friends and fought alongside him in the Revolutionary War. Jefferson and Hamilton were enemies and fought against each other for years during the birth of America.

Did you know that two of the actors mentioned in this post are actually engaged in real life?!