Moana 2's Creative Team Gets Real About Turning Planned TV Show Into The Movie Sequel: 'We Love Disney+, But…'

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When it comes to upcoming Disney movies on the way soon, Moana 2’s release date is absolutely the most highly anticipated for fans of the House of the Mouse. However, when the animated sequel was first on the drawing board for Walt Disney Animation it was actually conceptualized as a series for those with a Disney+ subscription to watch at home. Now the creatives behind Moana 2 are sharing what happened behind the scenes to pivot the project to the big screen.

Especially after Inside Out 2 became the highest grossing movie of 2024 thus far, with $1.675 billion collected at the worldwide of box office, it’s easy to imagine the dollar signs in Disney’s eyes regarding the high-profile sequel. However, here’s what the studio’s chief creative officer, Jennifer Lee said about what motivated the Moana series turning into a movie:

We constantly screen [our projects], even in drawing [phase] with sketches. It was getting bigger and bigger and more epic, and we really wanted to see it on the big screen. It creatively evolved, and it felt like an organic thing.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lee shared that through the company’s process of creating its stories, it apparently wasn’t long before she and the other filmmakers knew they wanted to pivot from a straight-to-streaming series to a theatrical release. As Lee continued:

Supporting the theaters is something that we talked about. We love Disney+, but it will go there eventually. You could really put it anywhere, but these artists create stories that they want to see on the big screen and that we want the world to see on the big screen.

While the unexpected Moana sequel means fans of the Disney character will get to see her world expand in gorgeous 3D animation before the live-action Moana release date arrives in summer of 2026. Per the filmmakers, it also meant cutting numerous musical numbers, sequences and character arcs that were planned for the streaming series.

One of Moana 2’s co-directors, Dana Ledoux Miller, also said the decision came out of having “the best artists in the world” at their disposal for the project. She also said this:

It was a matter of finding a way to truly make it Moana's story. In the series, there was a lot more room to play with some of the ensemble. [The shift was about] streamlining into all the things that we love most about Moana as our hero and our adventurer. We have all of that now and it pops so much more, especially with the scale that we get to live in on the big screen. Every element of the adventure that we were already building in the series is now 10 times bigger, 10 times more exciting.

The latest Moana 2 trailer debuted at D23 Expo last month. You can check it out below:

As we’ve come to learn, Moana 2 will take place three years after the events of the first movie. The Disney film will introduce Moana’s sister, who is named Simea, along with featuring three new crew members – all of whom were originally conceptualized for the Disney+ series. After Moana receives an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, she’ll be going back out to sea on another exciting adventure.

Yes, she’ll be reuniting with Maui, and even bring Pua along this time! The latest trailer also teases a female villain that I have theorized could be the Polynesian deity Hina of New Zealand, based on her brief presence that has been shown thus far.

Moana 2 hits theaters on November 27.