• Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, the curious daughter of village chief Tui and his wife Sina, who is chosen by the ocean to break the curse on the island of Motufetu
• Dwayne Johnson as Maui, a strong-willed shapeshifting demigod who accompanies Moana on her journey.
• Hualālai Chung as Moni, a member of Moana's wayfinding crew and a fan of Maui's
• Rose Matafeo as Loto, a brainy but quirky craftswoman member of Moana's wayfinding crew
• David Fane as Kele, a grumpy farmer and member of Moana's wayfinding crew
• Awhimai Fraser as Matangi, Nalo's enforcer who controls bats.
• Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Simea, Moana's little sister
• Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana's father, and chief of Motunui Island. Unlike the first film, where his singing voice was done by Christopher Jackson, Morrison does his own singing.
• Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Moana's mother and Chieftess of Motunui
• Rachel House as Tala, Tui's late mother and Moana's paternal grandmother, who returns as a manta ray spirit
• Gerald Ramsey as Tautai Vasa, Moana's ancestor
• Alan Tudyk as Heihei, Moana's pet rooster
Additionally, some of Dwayne Johnson's family members have voice roles in the film including daughters Jasmine and Tiana as members of Moana's fan club "MOANA-BE's", and his mother Ata Maivia Johnson as a villager. Tofiga Fepulea'i voices the storm god and main antagonist Nalo in the mid-credits scene, which also features the giant coconut crab Tamatoa from the first film, reprised by Jemaine Clement.

In December 2020, during a Disney Investor Day meeting, Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee announced that a long-form musical comedy series titled Moana: The Series, based on the 2016 film of the same name, was in development at the studio and set for release on Disney+ in 2023. The series was to consist of five episodes. By August 2021, it was reported that Osnat Shurer would once again serve as producer. In January 2022, it was announced that David Derrick Jr., storyboard artist for the first film, would serve as the writer and director. The series entered development simultaneously with the live-action remake of Moana according to Jared Bush, a writer of the film and screenplay writer of the 2016 animated film.

Dana Ledoux Miller came onto the series in early 2023 as a consulting writer, having finished writing the live-action remake with Bush, and turned in several revisions for the series.

According to Bush, the director and the writers repeatedly received feedback during development to the effect of: "We love this story. Why is it not going on the biggest screen you can possibly imagine?" In January 2024, Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman "informed the team that they needed to shift rapidly from making a five-episode streaming series to a second Moana feature film". This last-minute "story pivot" was possible because nearly all the actual animation work for Disney animated films is not performed until the final year before the release date—everything before that is development.

In February 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger officially announced that the series had been reworked into a theatrical sequel titled Moana 2, with Derrick and Shurer remaining attached to the project. Iger explained that this occurred after Disney executives saw early footage: "We were impressed with what we saw and knew it deserved a theatrical release". By the release of the first trailer in May, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller were confirmed as co-directors alongside Derrick, while Christina Chen and Yvett Merino were revealed to replace Shurer as the film's producers.
Shortly after the announcement that the series was being repurposed into a theatrical feature film, Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson were confirmed to reprise their respective roles as Moana and Maui. Johnson later confirmed that he had been involved with the project since its conception, including its development, stating: "I can't wait for fans to see the film, the technology, the effects, cutting edge. We all really went for it. We thought if we're gonna make a sequel to something so beloved, let's really go for it." Several more cast members were unveiled at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, including Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger reprising their roles as Moana's parents from the first film. New additions include Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Moana's new sister, and Rose Matafeo, David Fane, and Hualālai Chung as members of Moana's wayfinding crew.

According to Cravalho, this film was the first time "that a Disney princess has been allowed to age." When Cravalho returned to the recording studio after the first film to record lines for Disney fireworks shows, Disney on Ice, and Disney Lego Princess, she was repeatedly asked to raise her vocal pitch to sound like herself as a teenager at age 16. She was delighted when the film's directors a…

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Moana 2 had its world premiere at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, Hawaii on November 21, 2024, and was released in theaters in the United States on November 27, 2024.
The first trailer for the film was released on May 29, 2024, after debuting at CinemaCon the month before. The trailer earned over 178 million views in its first 24 hours across all platforms, breaking a new record as the most watched trailer of all time for a Disney animated film, a record previously held by Frozen 2 and Pixar's Inside Out 2 (the latter of which the trailer was attached to in the theaters). A sneak peek of the film was screened at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14, 2024.

On August 9, 2024, Cravalho and Johnson appeared at the Disney Entertainment Showcase at the 2024 D23 Expo in Anaheim, California to promote the film and release a new trailer, which was released online shortly thereafter. During the D23 presentation, Cravalho performed a new song from the film, "We're Back," accompanied by Polynesian dancers. Johnson also used the presentation to announce a new live-action Monster Jam film that he would be producing with Disney.
Like the first movie, Moana 2 was released in European countries with the title and protagonist's name changed to Vaiana due to a trademark conflict.

Four special dubbings in Polynesian languages were released for the sequel, in Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, and Samoan. The first three languages had previously received a dubbing of the first movie too, while a Samoan dubbing of the sequel was released without the original movie having been dubbed. Cravalho reprised the lead role in the Hawaiian dubbing of the sequel, like she did in the first movie, while several other members of the cast reprised their roles in the Māori dubbing.

Of the six movies dubbed into Māori so far, Moana 2 is the first one to have premiered in New Zealand simultaneously in English and Māori. This marks the third time in Disney's history a dubbing in an indigenous language is released at the same time as regular dubbings. The first such instance happened with the Tahitian dubbing of Moana, released in 2016 in French Polynesia. The second was the Sámi dubbing of Frozen 2, released in 2019 in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Moana 2 was released as a digital download on January 28, 2025, and will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 18, 2025 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.