Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear called Lin-Manuel Miranda for advice while working on the hit animated Disney sequel

Lin-Manuel Miranda is opening up about why he didn’t return for Moana 2. Miranda, who wrote the music for 2016’s Moana and received an Oscar nomination for the song “How Far I’ll Go,” recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his latest work on Mufasa: The Lion King alongside the film’s director Barry Jenkins.

Amid the divisive audience response to the Moana 2 soundtrack, Lin-Manuel Miranda has now explained his absence from the sequel in a new interview.