Disney Fans Praise Zendaya’s Casting as the ‘New Moana’

These days, untainted Disney darlings are few and far between. Moana star and Disney icon Dwayne Johnson, for example, is not without his own share of scandals (even though he continues to star in family-friendly Disney movies like 2021’s Jungle Cruise).

Johnson is set to reprise his role as Maui the demigod in the upcoming live-action remake of the 2016 movie Moana, and if fans have their way, the Rock is also going to be joined by another beloved A-list performer: Zendaya!

A Dynamic New Disney Duo?

Disney fans originally expected Hawaiian actress Auli’i Cravalho to reprise her role as Moana the Polynesian princess — but Auli’i recently announced her absence from the film’s cast, and Disney Fanatics have quickly found a supposedly-suitable alternative.

Zendaya originally starred in the Disney Channel show Shake It Up, and has since gone on to win over audiences time and time again in projects ranging from hit songs to starring movie roles. The actress is also rumored to be involved with the third Princess Diaries movie!

With her steamy new movie Challengers coming soon and her swoon-worthy romance with Tom Holland in full swing, the Euphoria star and Primetime Emmy Award winner has been even more in demand as of late — and now a teaser trailer for the new live-action Moana film has placed Zendaya at the heart of the Disney movie!

Watch Closely…

A fanmade trailer from Cinematic Pro Studio (shown below) has paired Zendaya with Dwayne Johnson for the new film.

The Golden Globe Award winner and the popular former pro-wrestler certainly would make an intriguingly dynamic duo, and fans have (as usual) failed to quickly recognize that the teaser trailer is not actually a trailer from Disney.

Fans recently fell for a similar Zendaya teaser when a poster began circulating online that put Zendaya into the role of Crysta the fairy in the cult classic Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest from 1992.

Although Dwayne Johnson’s version of Maui does seem a bit distorted in the fanmade teaser trailer, and Zendaya is entirely absent from the trailer (most likely because there were no usable images of her that could easily be transformed into a Moana likeness), Disney fans and Disney princess fans were still hopeful about the trailer’s authenticity.

“I Will Definitely See It”

“It looks real to me and I will definitely see it,” one Moana fan declared. “Wish this was real…wow this was great,” another fan said.

Some other Disney fans shared their own praise for the Zendaya and Dwayne Johnson pairing, while other fans (predictably) complained about the longstanding bait-and-switch technique that is used for fanmade trailers.

Would you like to see Zendaya playing Moana, or do you think that Moana specifically needs to be played by a Polynesian actress?