Moana 2 Filmmakers Tease a Bigger, More Epic Journey for the Wayfinder

Moana 2, directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, sees courageous wayfinder Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) having to set sail on an epic but dangerous adventure to reconnect her people across the ocean. It’s an adventure too big to tackle on her own, so she enlists the help of an unlikely crew of seafarers, including inventor Loto (voiced by Rose Matafeo), grumpy farmer Kele (voiced by David Fane) and Polynesian mythology expert Moni (voiced by Hualalai Chung), and will reunite with demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), who will inevitably bring along his own obstacles to conquer.

Since the first film, Moana has grown to understand the risks involved with what she must do, but also knows that things could be far worse if she doesn’t succeed. It’s harder for her to leave her family and little sister Simea (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), who looks up to Moana, back in their village, only this time she is bringing Pua along with her.

After screening the first 30 minutes of the highly anticipated sequel, which quickly and easily reminds you of why you fell in love with Moana, her family and loved ones, and her community the first time around, Collider and a handful of other media outlets got the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Derrick, Hand, Miller and co-writer/executive producer Jared Bush that was held at Walt Disney Animation. The filmmaking team talked about why they were so excited to make this sequel, how the project evolved from Disney+ TV series to feature film with a theatrical release, weaving in Easter eggs for fans, the emotional complications of this story, putting together Moana’s crew, mini-Maui, and how Bua came to be.

'Moana 2' Will Continue the Wayfinder's Story of Personal Growth and Evolution

Question: Because animation takes so long, what keeps you pushing forward throughout the process?

DAVID G. DERRICK JR.: With the first film, I felt like we had just dipped our toe into what the world of Moana is and the stories that she can go on, so I was just excited to continue her story of personal growth and evolution, and really broaden everyone’s imagination for how far she could actually go.

DANA LEDOUX MILLER: The first Moana changed the way audiences saw the people of the Pacific. For me, it changed the way I was able to work within this business because suddenly people understood what it meant to be Polynesian and what it meant to be a Pacific Islander, in a way they never did before. And so, knowing that we are going to continue this story on the biggest screens possible, I just hold onto that. It means something to my family, but it’s also changed the way people perceive who I am. That’s representation. And so, knowing that we get to tell a fun, exciting story that celebrates where I come from and my family, there’s really nothing better than that.

JASON HAND: I love the characters in Moana. I love Moana and Maui together. And then, to be able to introduce all these new crew characters was so important that we made sure we were true to the characters from the first film. We brought them on a new adventure that doesn’t take away anything. It only adds onto their story. It was really important to make sure that we’re very true to where they were at the end of the first film and to go forward from that point. Having another chance to be in the world with these characters and have them sing new songs, that was what I was really passionate about.

JARED BUSH: There’s a cynical way to look at sequels that we all know. But for so many of us that worked on the first film or fell in love with these characters, the opportunity to spend time with your best friends again, to go back on that canoe, to be back in that water, is a chance that we jump at and are so thrilled to be able to do that. For all of us, it was this unbelievable opportunity and something that we really cherish.

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This film was originally planned as a Disney+ TV series. Was there anything that you had to change or wanted to change for it, when it became a major theatrical release?

DERRICK: The main core characters and the main themes are the themes that we were setting out to tell with the series. But then, we had to right-size it in a very dramatic way, to make sure that it was servicing a feature format. There were some things that didn’t fit exactly from the series to the feature. But for me, the one thing I love is it made everything lensed through Moana and her personal growth.

BUSH: On top of that, it was this unbelievable opportunity to tell this story on a very epic scale, which in the world of Moana, is exactly what you want. The series version also had that epic quality, but knowing this movie is gonna be shown on the biggest screens in the world, really allowed us to go all in on all of that. Across the board, it was something that we were all very excited to do.

Dana, what does your Samoan identity mean to you? With Pacific Islanders being such great storytellers, how has that shaped your approach to the storytelling of Moana 2?

MILLER: My father is from Samoa. He’s a Matai. I grew up in Long Beach and had a foot in multiple worlds. I’ve always been very proud of being Samoan, and yet often felt disconnected, as someone who doesn’t speak the language and who didn’t grow up in Samoa. It’s something that, as an adult, I’ve really come to take ownership of and be openly proud of who I am and where I come from. I’ll admit, when I first was hired to do the live-action, and then this movie, I felt like I was not Samoan enough to tell this story. I’ve gone on this journey to really embrace who I am and realize that who I am is exactly the right person to be here. It’s part of my personal growth to identity, I would say. It’s given me a lot of confidence to be proud of where I come from. I’ve always been proud, but being on Moana has shaped the way I see myself, as well, and really helped me build community in a way I hadn’t before. I was afraid to say that I’m Samoan because people would think I wasn’t enough, and Moana gave me a lot of courage. I’ll be forever grateful to her for that.

While There Are Easter Eggs in the Sequel, the Filmmakers Wanted to Make Sure 'Moana 2' Is Accessible for Everyone

Image via Disney

How do you approach callbacks to the first film in establishing the emotional approach to Moana 2?

BUSH: With any story, when you’re going back, some of our audience will have watched the movie that morning because they watch Moana every day, so when they see this next story, they’re gonna be very tied to it. Others won’t have seen it that recently. We wanna make sure that we welcome everybody back in. As a fan, I love callbacks and Easter eggs hidden, here and there. The most important thing for us, moving into this story, was wanting you to be immersed immediately. That is the colors of the world, that is hearing the characters that you love, that is the music. And our music, by Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’I, and Emily [Bear] and Abigail [Barlow], does such a good job of setting you right back in that place that you know. There’s this memory of what you think the first Moana film was, so how do you set people in that? As we move into the second act and beyond, there are definitely things that will feel familiar. And then, you’re gonna head to a whole other place, and that’s very intentional.

Moana’s grandmother says, “You were too young the first time to understand what you might be losing if you went on this journey.” Now that she understands, how do you think that amps up the emotional impact for Moana herself and for the audience?

DERRICK: Everything with [Moana's] continued growth and evolution is more complicated and more difficult. She now has a little sister, Simea, that she just couldn’t be closer and more connected to. She has a crew that she’s also responsible for. Before, she left in the dead of night to go save her people. But the thing I love now is that it fully embraces the entire community, which really is the Polynesian way. It’s all together, or not at all. They go out on a canoe that Moana could never have built herself, that is designed by Loto, but has the blessing of her entire community, so they can go further than she’s ever gone. But to do that, she needs others.

MILLER: I’d also say the emotional stakes are higher when you understand what you have to lose. That’s part of what growing up is. Moana is growing up. This is three years later. She doesn’t have that naivete of youth anymore. We’ve seen her leave her island and go on an epic adventure. She does that again. She’s being called to leave. But for all of us, as we grow up, and you’re maybe going off to college, you leave your family behind in a different way. You understand that, as you grow up, you’re leaving something. There is a loss to leaving, even when there is so much to gain. This is about the future of her people. She can’t deny that, and yet she’s still human. She’s still a person who loves deeply and has to leave something. There’s grief to growing up. It’s really exciting to explore that through such a positive relationship that means so much to her.

HAND: There’s this great thing we always thought about with this version of Moana, which was, in the first film, she looked out to the horizon for all the answers. But now, we look at her as having that same feeling as she looks back towards home. It is literally both of those things together, and it puts her in a completely different headspace when she’s going to leave, knowing everything that she’s leaving, everything that means, and the stakes for her, as she goes out on this new journey. There’s something really powerful about putting her into a new position that she’s never been in before.

BUSH: Moana can say all day long how important this is for the future of her people. But when you’re a three-year-old, and you hear that your sister may never come back, none of that matters. That’s really hard for Moana because she cares so deeply. So, to put her in this dilemma where she knows how important that is, and frankly, the future of her people includes her little sister, but logic isn’t part of a three-year-old brain, it’s all emotion. That’s a really tricky thing for Moana to have to contend with.

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What was it like to fill out the rest of Moana’s crew? Who did you want those characters to be?

MILLER: What we love so much about the first film is that Moana is our hero and our adventurer who proves that she can be a leader, and we really thought a lot about what it means to grow as a leader. We’ve never really seen her have to lead other people in real time, and that changes the way you behave. A lot of what we thought about in this second film was how, as you mature, you learn that there are consequences to your actions and the things that you do. The choices you make affect the people around you. And we really wanted to put Moana through her paces as a leader and have to see who she would be on the water when she had people with her. And then, we explored who those people were and really tried to emphasize the ingenuity of the Pacific people. Each of them represent some of the best traits that the original navigators took with them across the ocean. We also wanted to have fun, and what’s more fun than a bunch of people who don’t know how to be on the ocean having to go up against the biggest test yet. You haven’t even seen what they’re about to go up against.

BUSH: We also wanted to stop the threats that we were getting for Pua not having gone in the first film.

MILLER: We can sleep now.

Connection To Others and the World Around You Is an Important Theme in 'Moana 2'

Image via Disney

Are there specific messages or themes in Moana 2 that you believe will speak to today’s generation of children and families, especially in terms of cultural identity and environmental awareness?

MILLER: There are a lot of themes. Being of the Pacific, we are inherently of the ocean. This is our world. It’s inherently about the environment and our connection to it and the way we care for it. I would also say there’s a theme of connection. To me, what’s so important about this film and what I think speaks so deeply to my own experience of the world, but is also so universal, is this idea that we can’t do things alone. We often talk about the ocean connecting us. As people of the Pacific, the ocean connects us. It doesn’t separate us. That’s a really profound idea, and one that’s not often talked about these days. Life is tough. I hope that people understand, after seeing this, and what Moana comes to understand, is that we are better together. Connecting to people outside ourselves helps us grow and learn and pushes us to be bigger and better than we were before, just like for Moana.

DERRICK: For me, one thing that’s really strong and important is the idea of ongoing personal growth and evolution. We all come of age and we feel like we’ve become who we are, and then you have a child or you have another obstacle in your life, and you find that you’re always going to be growing and evolving. That’s a message that, wherever you are in life, can speak to you.

How did you figure out the best way to make mini-Maui work?

HAND: It’s the coolest, best magic trick ever. I’ve been wanting to do animation my entire life, so working with Eric Goldberg was a freaking dream come true. In fact, I melted into my full nerd animation self when he joined our show. He is a legend because he is so incredible at what he does. He brings a very special sensibility to the character of mini-Maui. He really knows and loves and understands that character. Working with him on that part was genuinely one of the highlights. It was so much fun. When you see the CG character interacting with mini-Maui and the timing of all that with how it all works, it’s this incredible magic trick, genuinely. There’s some new stuff that we do with mini-Maui and the tattoos that comes later on in the film, that I can’t wait for everybody to see because it’s super emotional and very powerful. It brings a whole other level to what this part of Maui is, so I’m super excited for that. We had so much fun designing and coming up with it. We do hundreds of variations on these things.

DERRICK: The rich support that we got from the Oceanic Cultural Trust allowed us to have fun with our storytelling while staying true to the places and the cultures that we were representing. I’m so proud that we could celebrate that art form.

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How did off-brand Pua come about? What led to his creation?

MILLER: I’m very proud of this. There are a lot of pigs on these islands. Early on, when we were writing, we thought a lot about Moana and how she is a badass hero. Now, her village has come behind her and they’re supporting her. So, I was thinking about those kids that are looking at Moana like, “I wanna be like her.” There are a lot of people out in the world that wanna be like Moana. I saw them at D23. I was like, “Hey Jared, what if we have the Moana-bes, like the Swifties of Moana’s world? And then, they have to have their own Pua, but it can’t be a cute Pua. It's gotta be bootleg Pua – Bua.

HAND: Our head of story did one single drawing of what you see on screen, and it was just a loaf. It was the funniest drawing, based on what Dana was just talking about. We just ran with that. It was so much fun.

BUSH: He does get eaten at the end of the movie. It’s a tragic finish. Enjoy him while you have him.

HAND: You have to eat while you’re out.

Moana sets out on another daring voyage, venturing into uncharted territories to save her island from a looming ancient danger. Joined by the demigod Maui and her steadfast friends, she braves perilous seas and encounters new allies along the way. Her quest leads to revelations about her ancestors and deeper insights into her bond with the ocean. 

Release Date November 27, 2024

Director David G. Derrick Jr. , Jason Hand , Dana Ledoux Miller

Cast Auli'i Cravalho , Dwayne Johnson , Alan Tudyk , Rachel House , Temuera Morrison , Nicole Scherzinger , Hualālai Chung , David Fane , Rose Matafeo , Awhimai Fraser , Gerald Ramsey , Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda

Studio(s) Walt Disney Pictures , Walt Disney Animation Studios

Moana 2 is out in theaters on November 27th. Check out the trailer:

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