As Moana 2 continues to break big at the box office during the holiday season, the Disney Princess is set to be central to another one of the upcoming Disney movies when the live-action Moana hits theaters in 2026. When CinemaBlend spoke to Moana voice actress Auli’i Cravalho about passing the torch to another person, she shared her excitement over the next Moana.
In the new Moana movie, Auli’i Cravalho spoke with us about the sequel being the “first time in Disney history” a Disney Princess is allowed to age, and she found it refreshing. But when it comes to going back and telling the story of a 16-year-old Moana sailing the seas with Maui, the actress is looking forward to seeing the new iteration. In her words:
I feel like the Moana universe or the Moana-verse is simply expanding tenfold. So we have our original film, we have our sequel, and then yes, we have our live action [movie]. And I love that I'm able to pass the baton on to Catherine Laga'aia. She's so beautiful. I feel like she really represents Moana in a fantastic way. I also am 24 now and I'm glad to see someone young, someone hungry, someone green to the industry taking those shoes because I can count on one hand the amount of young Pacific Island women I see in this industry. And, I'm glad to have a friend. I'm really glad it's lonely out here.
17-year-old Catherine Laga'aia was officially cast as the live-action Moana over the summer just prior to the movie filming in Atlanta and Hawaii. (In the latter location, the movie got caught by paparazzi on boats!) She is a newcomer actress native to Sydney, Australia with familial roots in Samoa.
Upon the announcement, Laga'aia said she was “honored” to have the opportunity to “celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me”. Laga'aia will star in the movie with Dwayne Johnson as Maui, John Tui as Moana’s father Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as her mother, Sina and Rena Owens as Gramma Tala.
The movie is being directed by Thomas Kail, who has helmed a host of Broadway and off-Broadway musicals like In The Heights and Hamilton with Lin-Manuel Miranda. The live-action Moana is also being written by the original screenwriter, Jared Bush, and Moana 2 writer/director Dana Ledoux Miller.
Auli’i Cravalho may not be Moana in live action, but she is an executive producer on the film alongside Dwayne Johnson, which has allowed her to work more closely with the actor on the behind-the-scenes details. As she shared:
I feel really lucky because I am now an executive producer on the live-action Moana, which means that I have Dwayne on a text chain and we send voice notes back and forth. I see him on Zooms and on emails and things, and it's really nice to have met him at 14 and thought of him as a role model, certainly then. And now, I get to look at him as also a colleague, someone who shares insight on the business. Things that I really don't know about. I know about being talent, and producing is a very different muscle, a very different hat to put on. But, I'm very happy to be learning as well.
It's pretty cool to have Dwayne Johnson on your side when it comes to making a movie after Auli’i Cravalho was previously cast purely as the voice in a Disney musical. It’s sweet to hear Cravalho talk about her evolution in the Moana role, and how she has a friend in the new Moana actress along with the animated and live-action Maui, Dwayne Johnson.
You can catch Auli’i Cravalho in Moana 2, now playing in theaters.
