Like most news that involves Lin-Manuel Miranda, this is just plain delightful.
As Indiewire points out, the composer/actor/writer/lovely human being that is Miranda has been a long-standing (and well-documented) fan of Aaron Sorkin’s classic, The West Wing. Some years have passed since the show’s ending, but Miranda’s fervor has not faded. That feeling can be echoed by the creators of the West Wing Weekly podcast, which releases episodes about The West Wing. The show aired its final episode in 2006, but the message of a strong and passionate group of people running the government is a lesson we could still use today.
Since he was such a fan of the original series, Miranda recently took to the podcast West Wing Weekly, where he was spurred to write a new song for the television series. In Sorkin’s drama, the characters would try to work against whatever political or emotional obstacle in their way by asking a simple question: what’s next? And that question is precisely what Miranda chose as the title of his song.
The West Wing Weekly has released a video accompainment to Miranda’s song on Youtube, which features various clips from the show, including several instances of Martin Sheen’s performance as the iconic President Josiah Bartlet, demanding to know “what’s next.”
Miranda wrote and performed the lyrics to “What’s Next,” and Hrishikesh Hirway provided the music. You can watch the song being performed below.