Hamilton: Taran Killam to play King George

Former Saturday Night Live star and impressions whiz Taran Killam will join the cast of the Broadway smash Hamilton, stepping into the ever-cycling role of King George III beginning Jan. 17. Tony nominee Rory O’Malley, who currently plays the nine-minute monarch on Broadway, will depart the production on Jan. 15.

Hamilton marks Killam’s Broadway debut, but the actor is a lifelong musical theater performer, having studied at the acclaimed Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. (For proof, just watch him belt out Evita.) In his professional life, Killam recently took to the stage in New York for a brief stint as the maniacal dentist in the Encores! Off Center production of Little Shop of Horrors last summer.

Along with Killam, Hamilton has also announced a series of new principal cast members joining the show at various points over the next few months: Alysha Deslorieux will play Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds beginning Dec. 16; J. Quinton Johnson begins as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison on Jan. 6; Bryan Terrell Clark plays George Washington beginning Jan. 10; and Anthony Lee Medina joins the cast as two very lively characters, John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, in March.