by Pierre Lorenz on March 15, 2022

With its outstanding movie score and unique characters, Disney's "Moana" became a beloved Disney animated movie in 2016. After many years of rumors, it's now time to talk about a potential sequel. In today's Original, we speculate about the possible plot of a sequel movie or series format, of course not without recalling the events of the first part beforehand.

Storyline of Moana

The story revolves around 16-year-old Moana, who lives as the daughter of Chief Tui on the paradisiac island of Motunui in the southern Pacific. Together with the other residents they worship Te Fiti, the goddess of nature, who many centuries ago was instrumental in bringing fertile life to the surrounding ocean. For this purpose, she used to so-called Pounamu stone, the source of her power. Unfortunately, Maui, a demigod from Māori mythology, is after the stone. The demigod of the wind and the sea is a true master of shape-shifting and wants to use the Pounamu stone not for the flourishing of the ocean, but for the creation of mankind. In a fateful attack by the volcano demon Te Kā, Maui loses not only his giant fishhook, but also the stolen heart of the Goddess of Nature.

Just under a millennium later, our eponymous heroine Moana is finally born. When she is sixteen years old, a terrible epidemic ravages Motunui, which not only causes the vegetation to wither, but also reduces the stock of all fish and sea creatures to an alarming level. Through her grandmother, she sees some sailboats equipped with the characteristic drums in a hidden cave. She also learns that her people were traditionally voyagers before Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti. After that, the sea was no longer safe, as the blessing of the Pounamu stone was responsible for eliminating the dangers of the high seas.

Grandmother Tala finally gives her granddaughter the fabled heart of Te Fiti and tells Moana on her deathbed that she must find Maui in order to restore Te Fiti's heart. Moana eventually embarks on a journey to track down Maui and convinces him to return Te Fiti's heart together. What follows is a journey of the two on the open sea, until they finally reach Te Fiti's island. They free the goddess, who is trapped in the form of the volcano monster Te Kā. In the end, Moana returns to her island, where the inhabitants welcome her joyfully and finally go to sea again after a long time.

How does the story of Moana continue?

In addition to a possible sequel, fans are especially looking forward to the series, which has been announced at the Disney Investors Meeting in 2020. As Disney announced back in January, this will be available on the in-house streaming service Disney+. According to Collider, the series will tie directly into the events of the movie from 2016. However, since it won't be released until later in 2024 there is of course very little information. In the following we speculate about what could happen in "Moana 2" or the upcoming series and how the story could continue.

At the end of "Moana", we see the villagers set sail together and explore the newly opened wide ocean. The inhabitants will therefore very likely to find new islands to populate under the guidance of Moana. Even though it has always been her big dream to be on the high seas and to lead a sailboat sooner or later she will have to settle down. At the beginning of the movie Moana's father prepares her for her future role as chief. At that time, she was not quite convinced of the idea, as she always wanted to sail out to sea despite her father's warnings. However, after the fate of the island has significantly changed for the better, one of the main themes will surely be Moana's new function as chief of Motunui. Certainly, she has a completely different style of leadership and, as already mentioned, may rule over a much larger empire than her father. One of her tasks could be to teach the inhabitants and any newcomers the art of sailing, which has been in her blood for many generations. Nevertheless, we believe that Motunui stays as the most important island in the "Moana" series, because it's just too beautiful to look at.

Also, not to be forgotten is a reunion of Moana and Maui. After the two had a somewhat bumpy start, they developed a friendship in the end. So, it's a safe bet that we'll see Maui again in some form. Maybe they will have to fight a big enemy again or Maui will even become a resident of Moana's home island Motunui? It could also be that Maui, after years of isolation, finally explores the big wide world and enjoys his newly won freedom. Either way, we're sure to see the two of them in action once again.

The same goes for the two sidekicks Pua and Heihei. The water-loving house pig and the peculiar rooster are sure to cause a few laughs, even though they do not play a leading role in the story. Moana's grandma Tala, who is one of the most endearing characters of all, will certainly be seen in flashbacks. After all, she taught her granddaughter many things and later even appeared as a stingray. Her spirit gives Moana tips repeatedly and accompanies her on her way, similar to a guardian angel. Through her, one could also tell more of the history of island nation, after all Tala knows a lot about past times.

The ocean will play another big role. As we can already see from Moana's childhood, she has always had a very special connection to the ocean and the element of water. In the end, the ocean even actively supports her, which is why we believe that the title character will interact even more with the ocean. Whether this can be compared to real superpowers is left undecided but there is still a lot of room for a story. An exciting question would be: Why did the ocean choose Moana as the chosen one?

The final question is a crucial one: Who will be the villain in the "Moana" sequel? At the end of the movie, it turned out that the volcano monster Te Kā is just the goddess Te Fiti without her heart. This means there is no villain in the story so far, which is why there is an urgent need to introduce an antagonist. The possibilities are endless, we could very well imagine an evil deity or an antagonist to the demigod Maui. Similar to Tamatoa this one could be from Lalotai, a gigantic monster realm. Theoretically the giant crab could also be bigger antagonist, after all, in a post-credit scene we see him trying to escape from his shell.

The Death Theory

In addition, there are some other wild and really creative theories out there which would have strong implications for "Moana 2". And therefore, we present them despite their abstruseness. The best known one says that Moana is dead for almost the whole first movie. According to that she died by the storm at the beginning and is only revived by Te Fiti and sent back to her home island alive. Fans want to have found some evidence for this, for example, that she doesn't interact with normal people after the storm passed. Also, she experiences things on her journey that a normal person would never, and she keeps meeting her grandma Tala and other ancestors. Before she sees her as stingray, but she doesn't interact with her until after the storm. What impact this theory would have on a sequel is, of course, difficult to estimate but we didn't want to deprive you of this interesting train of thought.

Cast & Production

Now let's talk about the cast and production of "Moana 2". It's pretty likely that almost all characters and their dubbing actors will return, because anything else would be a big letdown for fans. Who else but Dwayne Johnson should voice the Maui the demigod? Unfortunately, nothing is known about "Moana 2" yet, but as Disney announced via Twitter, David G. Derrick Jr., the storyboard artist of "Encanto" and "Moana", will direct the upcoming series for the first time. We can only hope that the animation style and score will be as good as the original. Fans of the "Moana" series can look forward to a release in the course of 2024, a release window for the "Moana 2" movie is however not yet known.