Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

One significant part of Broadway hit 'Hamilton' was inspired by ‘Harry Potter’

emma watson lin manuel miranda
Emma Watson interviewing Lin-Manuel Miranda. Emma Watson/Facebook

When actress Emma Watson interviewed Lin-Manuel Miranda for UN Women HeForShe Arts Week, it was bound to make fans of both the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" and “Harry Potter” excited.

Advertisement

But no one expected Miranda to admit one of the most significant structural choices of the play was actually based on the “Harry Potter” books.

In the interview, Miranda said he chose to have Hamilton meet Aaron Burr (played by Leslie Odom Jr. on Broadway) before he met his real friends Marquis de Lafayette (Daveed Diggs), Hercules Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan), and John Laurens (Anthony Ramos) because Harry Potter met his arch nemesis Draco Malfoy in the books before he met his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Lin-Manuel Miranda 1

Watch my interview with the wonderful Lin-Manuel Miranda, creater, writer and star of Hamilton the Musical, for UN Women HeForShe Arts Week here! xPart one...

Posted by Emma Watson on Thursday, March 17, 2016

Though Hamilton and Burr knew each other long before their famous 1804 duel took place, little if anything is known about their first-ever social encounter. So Miranda, inspired by J.K. Rowling’s famous books, took artistic license.

Here’s a snippet of the interview that starts around the 3-minute mark:

Advertisement

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: Structurally, I steal a little bit from “Harry Potter.” I have to tell you.

EMMA WATSON: What?!

MIRANDA: Because the opening scene, Hamilton meets Aaron Burr and he says “Aaron Burr, help me, I want to be in this world,” and Burr gives him the opposite advice of who he is. And then he meets his real friends: Mulligan, Lafayette, and Laurens. And it’s exactly Harry Potter meeting Malfoy first and then seeing his real friends on the train and being like, “I like these guys better.”

WATSON: I completely forgot that because in the first book, Draco tries to be like, “I can help you—“

Advertisement

MIRANDA: “—I can help you consort with the right people—“

WATSON: And Harry has this instinctual [feeling] like, “This guy is clearly an asshole and I have to stay away from him.”

MIRANDA: Yeah, everything I know I learned from those books.

WATSON: Yes! This is great! “Harry Potter” is everywhere.

Advertisement
harry potter hamilton miranda
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images and Warner Bros

For those who don’t remember the exact plot of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry meets Malfoy at Madam Malkin’s, a clothing shop in Diagon Ally, when they’re being fitted for their school robes. Malfoy brags about his abilities at Quidditch, insults Hagrid, and asks Harry if he is a pure-blood wizard:

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.

Just like Hamilton, Harry was primed to meet his new friends on the train ride to Hogwarts after being introduced to the blond, drawling wizard who would become his arch nemesis at school.

Advertisement

You can watch more of Watson and Miranda’s talk on Emma Watson’s Facebook page, as well as parts two, three, and four here.

Harry Potter
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account