Disney's Moana star Auliʻi Cravalho says she won't return for live-action remake

Auli'i Cravalho has confirmed that she's not going to be returning for the live-action remake of Moana which was recently announced.

Unless you've been living under a rock or stranded on a desert island you'll know that Disney's current thing is remaking their beloved animated movies into live-action, or for some of them very well rendered CGI.

The latest in the ever-growing line of remakes is The Little Mermaid and the House of Mouse has no plans to stop churning out more remakes.

Following The Little Mermaid in the list of live-action remakes will be a Snow White movie, a Lion King prequel about Mufasa, Lilo & Stitch, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bambi, The Aristocats, a sequel to Cruella and apparently also an Aladdin spin-off movie about Prince Anders, if you even remember who that is.

Joining this pile is the recently announced Moana remake, even though some fans reckon this is just a bit too soon since the animated one only came out in 2016.

Dwayne Johnson made the announcement sitting on a beach in Hawaii with his daughters where he was handed a real-life prop of the giant fishhook his Moana character Maui wields as a weapon.

"This story is my culture, and this story is emblematic of our people’s grace and warrior strength," he said in the promo clip.

"I wear this culture proudly on my skin and in my soul, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reunite with Maui, inspired by the mana and spirit of my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, is one that runs very deep for me."

While Johnson is coming back to reprise his role the lead star of Moana won't be joining the cast, as Auli'i Cravalho confirmed to her Instagram followers that she wasn't returning.

She said: "I will not be reprising the role. I believe it is absolutely vital the cast accurately represents the characters and stories we want to tell."

She will still be an executive producer on the movie so it's not like she'll have no part in it as she went on to say that she'd play a part in picking the next star to lead the movie.

Disney

"I cannot wait to help find the next actress to portray Moana’s courageous spirit, undeniable wit and emotional strength." She continued.

"I’m truly honoured to pass this baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent to honour our incredible Pacific peoples, cultures and communities that help inspire her story, and I look forward to the beautiful Pacific representation to come."

While she's a Hawaiian native she also has Chinese, Irish, Portuguese and Puerto Rican ancestry, and the character of Moana is solely Polynesian.

Fans said they had 'much respect' for the decision, while others praised Cravalho as being 'so real for that'.