Confused by the Hamilton ending? Here’s what Lin-Manuel Miranda says

Warning: spoilers ahead for Hamilton.

Fans who only knew Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical Hamilton from the cast may have been surprised by the last few seconds when the film version was released on Disney Plus last week. In the last scene, Alexander Hamilton’s widow, Eliza (Phillipa Soo), sings 50 years after his death. During this time, she founded an orphanage, raised donations for the Washington Monument and tried to promote her husband’s legacy. And then, in the last moments of the show, she looks straight at the audience and gasps, and the stage goes black.

Wheezing is an unusual way to end the show, and fans have discussed its meaning. Some say it means that Eliza has died and is seeing her late husband again. Others say she sees the audience and realizes that her husband’s legacy has been preserved.

Miranda weighed himself on Wednesday. The playwright replied to a fan theory that when she plays Alexander Hamilton and steps behind Eliza, Miranda has transformed himself back into the show’s creator.

“He takes Eliza’s hand and lets her know it’s okay to go,” says TikTok user Mallory Ellis in a video that has been tweeted and brought to the attention of Miranda. “She breaks the fourth wall, she sees that he told her story. BOOM! That’s why I’m crying, people.”

Miranda liked the idea, but points out that the theory falls apart when other actors take on Hamilton’s role.

“It’s a nice idea,” he admits in the tweet and continues, “wheezing is wheezing is wheezing. I love all interpretations.”

* Spoiler *
It’s a nice idea (thanks @malloryannellis), but it breaks down the moment I don’t play the part (as I wish you could see @JMunozActor or @JonRua, who also played Ham in that first year! )
The panting is the panting is the panting. I love all interpretations. ❤️ https://t.co/Khp8CAtTXT

– Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel), July 8, 2020

Last week, the Hamilton cast answered questions from Wired magazine, and Miranda again refused to set a meaning.

“I think it’s different for every Eliza,” he said. “I think that in some way it crosses time whether what she sees is Hamilton, what she sees is heaven, what she sees is now the world. I think that are all valid and all fair. “

The actress Phillippa Soo, who founded the role of Eliza and plays it in the filmed version, spoke about the end in an interview in 2016.

“People say, ‘Is Eliza going to heaven? Does she see Alexander? Does she see God? What is that?’ “Soo said in the interview. “And it’s kind of all these things.”

Check out Hamilton at Disney Plus – and don’t miss ours Six things that could surprise you in the blockbuster musical.