Disney's First Latina Princess Movie May Be In The Works With Lin-Manuel Miranda

Disney has made bold strides in the past decade, introducing its first African-American princess with The Princess and the Frog and its first Polynesian princess with Moana. Now, could we be on our way to getting our first Latina Disney Princess? Reports suggest that Mary Poppins Returns' Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had a hand in creating the music behind Moana, is working on Disney's first Latina princess film.

Back in 2015, the internet was abuzz with excitement over the introduction of Disney's first Latina princess. Except she wasn't exactly Latina, or an official Disney princess. The princess at the center of the Disney TV series Elena of Avalor was voiced by voiced by Dominican-born actress Aimee Carrero and touted by news outlets as Disney's "first Latina princess." But it turns out Disney did not specify that Elena is Latina, rather describing her as "inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore." That and her position as a star of a TV series rather than a feature film essentially excluded her from the official Disney princess lineup (which still includes Mulan, who is not actually related to royalty).

But we could have an official Latina Disney Princess as the star of a new animated Disney feature. Lin-Manual Miranda's father, Luis, reportedly told Page Six that Miranda is working on a secret Disney project:

"He is talking to Disney about a sequel to 'Moana,' but the movie would be about a Latina princess."

But take this news with a grain of salt: Page Six is an offshoot of the tabloid magazine The New York Post, and neither Disney nor the younger Miranda provided comment. But if this were true, none would be better suited to creating Disney's first Latina princess than Miranda. However, we do know that Miranda is working on a new animated film with director Byron Howard (Tangled, Zootopia), so we believe there is truth here for sure.

The co-writer of the Moana soundtrack (which included the Oscar-nominated song "How Far I'll Go"), Miranda wears his Puerto Rican ancestry as a badge of honor, implementing the U.S. territory's culture into his works like his Tony-winning Broadway show In the Heights. This would be a dream pairing for Disney, who has clearly found an enthusiastic collaborator with Miranda, who in addition to his work behind-the-scenes with Moana has recently starred in Disney's Mary Poppins Returns. I don't see Disney letting go of a genius talent like Miranda anytime soon, and I don't see a self-avowed Disney fan like Miranda leaving the House of Mouse soon either.