Writer-Director Dana Ledoux Miller Shares Her Gratifying Journey to ‘Moana 2’

Dana Ledoux Miller remembers watching 2016’s Moana in theaters and bursting into tears.

The writer-director knew beforehand this was “an islander story,” but hearing the opening chant to the Disney animated film in Samoan struck her deeply, both as a Samoan and a Pacific Islander working in Hollywood.

“I knew in that moment that my life as a storyteller was going to change,” she said recently.

As Moana navigated her way to the top of the box office—the film eventually grossed about $686 million worldwide on a budget of about $150 million—Miller said she realized she no longer had to compare characters in her pitches to execs’ favorite male references, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Momoa. “Now I have a touchpoint: The most popular Disney princess in the world is an islander.”

An adventurer beloved for a story that focuses more on her purpose and identity than romance, Moana sets sail again this month in Moana 2—this time with Miller as co-writer and co-director. Here, she shares more about how this character inspires her and how to chart your own course as a writer.

“A Continued Evolution”

A sixteen-year-old chieftain’s daughter in the original film, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) has a strong connection with the sea, a character in itself that entrusted her with a jewel that turned out to be the heart of the mother island Te Fiti. The shape-shifting demigod Maui (Johnson) literally stole Te Fiti’s heart while she slept, causing darkness in the world that Moana had to set right, with a repentant Maui along for the ride.

In Moana 2, Moana (a returning Cravalho) is now in charge of her seafaring community, which includes a little sister, Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), and young admirers whom Maui (a returning Johnson) teasingly calls “Moana-bees.” But all isn’t calm on her island. When the ancestors ask her to reconnect the different people across Oceania, Moana bravely steers into danger again, with her friend Maui as backup.

Miller wanted to keep major plot details under wraps but was delighted to discuss the character. (Talking over Zoom, she showed off a toy from the new film upon seeing a Moana figure from this Script writer’s desk.)

Moana 2 is set about three years after the original film, but the twentysomething maturity in Cravalho’s voice made Miller smile. (The performer, now starring in Cabaret on Broadway, was just a teen when she made her debut as Moana.) The animators aged the character a little too: “She’s got a little more salt in her hair, a little more swagger.”

A California native and a graduate of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Miller has been a producer and writer on several TV series including Thai Cave Rescue, Kevin Can F**k Himself, Lodge 49, Designated Survivor, Narcos, and The Newsroom. She initially joined Moana 2 as a consulting writer, meeting with Jared Bush (Encanto), the screenwriter on the original Moana. As she became more involved, she earned a co-writer credit, then became co-director alongside longtime story artists David G. Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand.

As with the original film, everyone involved was mindful of portraying this world and its culture with warmth and respect. “I also feel such an intense responsibility to do right by them,” she said.

When building on Moana’s original journey, she and Bush asked simple questions about Moana’s adventures so far to pinpoint how they could examine “what it means as a young person to think you know who you are,” Miller said. Usually, when we’re confident about this, life presents a new challenge.

Moana originally looked toward the past to prove herself as a leader. She now bears the weight of responsibility while imagining the kind of future she wants, Miller said.

“It’s a continued evolution: what it might look like to step into a leadership role when you know the consequences,” she said. “The things that could go wrong could keep you from what you love the most.”

Develop Your Own Process to See How Far You’ll Go

Miller and Bush are currently working on the script for a live-action adaptation of the original Moana, scheduled to debut in 2026. She’s continually touched by how so many people love this character. “I have people who quote that film back to me all the time,” she said with a laugh.

She’s also co-founded Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti (PEAK), which offers networking, development opportunities, and cultural consulting to support and uplift Pasifika talent.

While Moana finds her way by the stars, Miller steers through a story in a looser way. She used to try following other writers’ routines but now enjoys her own process, developed over years of writing for TV. She goes for walks, thinks about the project, and handwrites her ideas. “My brain works at the speed of my hand.”

Explore what works best for you, and you’ll learn, to paraphrase Moana, how far you’ll go.

“It’s scary enough to write without all those outside expectations,” Miller said. “Don’t let outside voices dictate your creative process.”

Moana 2 sails into theaters on November 27, 2024.