Disney has been giving its hit movies TV show spinoffs since the dawn of time… Well, the 1990s, but same difference. Pretty much all the Mouse House’s Renaissance era films spawned series of their own — The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules… Not Mulan, though (missed opportunity much?). Curiously, however, this isn’t something that’s particularly popular in the streaming era, outside of short-form content like Frozen off-shoot Olaf Presents.
Still, that’s not for lack of trying as projects such as Tiana (a follow-up to the perennially underrated The Princess and the Frog) have been in the works since the advent of Disney Plus. Likewise, the Moana TV series, first announced back in December 2020. Of course, since then the studio has moved forward with not one, but two separate projects starring Moana and Maui. Namely, a live-action remake coming in 2025 and an animated sequel due in late 2024. So where does this leave the show?
What does Moana 2 mean for the Moana TV series?
Short answer: there is no Moana TV series anymore. I was going to say “sorry to break it to you,” but I think with two Moana movies coming in the next two years, it’s hard to feel short-changed. Even Te Kā couldn’t get angry about this development.
The truth is that the TV series and Moana 2 are one and the same, as the plans for the show turned out to impress Disney brass so much that the decision was made to turn it into a movie instead. And not just a streaming movie either, but a bonafide theatrical film with a classic Thanksgiving release window. The news of the sequel came in conjunction with Disney’s Q1 earnings report, with Disney CEO Bob Iger confirming “we were impressed by what we saw, and knew it deserved a theatrical release.”
Disney is actually no stranger to taking a streaming TV project and deciding it would be best served as a movie. Marvel’s Armor Wars, set to star Don Cheadle as War Machine, went the same way and is now expected to come out in 2026. Of course, the fact that the company desperately needs a new animated hit following both Strange World and Wish‘s dismal box office performances across 2022 and 2023 probably had something to do with this decision as well.
With 2016’s Moana proving to be the gift that keeps on giving, hopefully Moana 2 can be the one to restore the heart of Te Fiti Disney’s animation domination.