Of course, the reality of Platt aging was not lost on the actor nor those making the highly anticipated project. "I think everybody obviously had in their minds that I wasn't going to stay teen-adjacent forever," he told Vanity Fair. "The need to get it done was a little urgent. Then of course the pandemic happened, and I kind of assumed that was that—it would be a no-go, and by the time the pandemic was over, I'd have outgrown it."

As fans know now, that did not end up being the case. He started filming in September 2020, the movie marking one of Universal Pictures' first new projects amid the coronavirus pandemic. "Much to my pleasant surprise, Universal seemed to be really hell-bent on making it," he noted to Vanity Fair, "and specifically making it with me."

After all, Platt was hailed for his emotional performance night after night until he took his final bow as Hansen in November 2017. That year, he took home the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, one of six for the show.