Lin-Manuel Miranda may not be coming back for Moana 2 but that doesn’t mean the songwriter isn’t staying in the Moana franchise moving forward.
Dwayne Johnson recently spoke with ET and revealed that Miranda is coming back for the upcoming live-action remake, which is currently in pre-production. “Lin Manuel Miranda’s coming back. We’re doing the music. Tommy Kail is our director, who directed Hamilton,” he said. “You put everybody together and you want to put the best team together and then you really go for it.”
Additionally, Johnson, who is returning for the live-action remake, says they have found their Moana but is keeping it a secret for now [maybe a D23 Expo announcement?]. “One of the exciting things about that was actually finding our Moana and how exciting that has been,” he told ET. “The global search to find our Moana — which — between you and I, we found her — not gonna tell you yet. [It’s] very exciting.”
The remake will be produced by Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia via their Seven Bucks Productions and Beau Flynn via Flynn Picture Co. Executive producers also include Scott Sheldon of Flynn Picture Co. Jared Bush and Samoan industry pro Dana Ledoux Miller will also take part in the production. Bush, who was a director and co-writer of Disney’s Oscar®-winning feature Encanto and a writer and co-director on Disney’s Oscar®-winning film Zootopia, wrote the screenplay for 2016’s Moana.
Like its animated predecessor, the film will celebrate the islands, communities and traditions of Pacific Islanders as seen through the eyes of a young woman eager to pave her own path. Moana’s journey of self-discovery and reflection on the lives of her ancestors won hearts worldwide, as did her newfound friendship with an exiled demigod named Maui.
