Disney”s much-anticipated follow-up to Mary Poppins is in early pre-production readying for a UK shoot at the start of 2017.

Mary Poppins Returns will star Emily Blunt as the eponymous nanny and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack the lamplighter.

Musician Miranda has previous experience of working with the Mouse House as he composed some of the additional music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and is one of the three main composers on the studio”s upcoming animated feature Moana.

The film is set in Depression-era London, where the original Banks children are now grown-up with a family of their own. But when tragedy strikes, the magical Mary Poppins appears in their lives once again.

David Magee has written the screenplay which will be directed by Rob Marshall; the latter also produces alongside Marc Platt and John DeLuca.

PI subscribers can log in for studio details from 23 June – there has been a change since the listing earlier this week – and should follow the production as we will be detailing HoDs next month.

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Emily Blunt photo via Getty Images Ent/Dimitrios Kambouris.