Raya and the Last Dragon

On May 24, 2018, That Hashtag Show reported that Walt Disney Animation Studios was developing an animated film titled Dragon Empire, which would be the directorial debut of story artists Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins, written by Kiel Murray.[11] In October of the same year, Deadline reported that Adele Lim was hired to retouch the script, and that Osnat Shurer had been hired to produce the movie.[12] On August 24, 2019, Disney officially announced the film during their D23 Expo Walt Disney Animation Studios' presentation panel.[5] In August 2020, it was announced that Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, the latter who had joined Disney Animation in 2019, were now taking over the reins as directors, with Briggs remaining as co-director and John Ripa joining him. In addition, Qui Nguyen joined Lim as co-writer and Peter Del Vecho joined Shurer as producer.[6][2]

On August 2, 2019, during the D23 Expo, Awkwafina and Cassie Steele were announced to have been cast in the film as Sisu and Raya, respectively.[5] On August 27, 2020, it was revealed Cassie Steel was replaced by Kelly Marie Tran who will voice Raya instead.[6] The recasting was due to creative shifts in the character and story.[13] On January 26, 2021, it was announced that Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, Alan Tudyk, Lucille Soong, Patti Harrison, and Ross Butler all have parts in the film.[14]

The film is set in a fictional fantasy land called Kumandra, inspired by Southeast Asian cultures from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.[15][16][17] To conduct research, the filmmakers and the production team traveled to all of the abovementioned countries, except Myanmar and Malaysia.[18][19][20][21] The Head of Story for the film was headed by Thai artist Fawn Veerasunthorn.[22] The film's team formed the Southeast Asia Story Trust, a collective of consultants for the film including Dr. Steve Arounsack who is an associate professor of Lao Anthropology at California State University.[23]

Raya and the Last Dragon is scheduled to be released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Digital HD and on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 15, 2021.[26]

The film was criticized for the lack of Southeast Asian representation in the cast, as the film's setting is comparable to Southeast Asia.[27] Most of the cast are of East Asian descent, with the exception of Kelly Marie Tran, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, and Patti Harrison.[28][29][30]