Raya is a character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Created by screenwriters Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen, Raya is the thirteenth official member of the Disney Princess line-up and Disney's first Southeast Asian princess. She is voiced by American actress Kelly Marie Tran. Cassie Steele was initially cast in the role until the character underwent changes and the filmmakers decided to find a different type of performer for Raya and replaced her with Tran.
The daughter of the chief of the Heart tribe, one of five warring tribes of the fictional land of Kumandra, Raya is a warrior princess who is appointed the guardian of the Dragon Gem. When the gem is shattered, plague monsters known as the Druun are released and turn the people of Kumandra, including Raya's father, to stone. With only her pet Tuk Tuk, a pill bug, armadillo and pug hybrid as a companion, she travels across Kumandra to find the last remaining dragon, Sisu, and retrieve the gem pieces to vanquish the Druun. Her rivalry with Namaari, the princess of the Fang tribe, is central to the film's themes of trust and unity.
Raya has received a positive critical response for her characterisation as a strong, independent female protagonist and an unconventional Disney Princess. Tran also received praise for voicing the character and was nominated for several film awards.
Development Concept and creation For the setting of Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney took inspiration from the countries of Southeast Asia. Producer Osnat Shurer said that this arose organically by sitting together and discussing the story. Initially the film was conceived as a story about a dragon, which was combined with an idea about a fantasy region composed of five kingdoms that form the shape of a dragon and a collective desire to present a strong female warrior as the film's protagonist. The decision to focus on an Asian dragon resulted in Shurer arranging a trip for the creative team to visit Laos, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia for the purpose of conducting cultural research. Shurer noted that Southeast Asia covers a vast area but that the people shared the same principles, including "a history of powerful women" which helped to shape the fantasy world they were creating.
Following the research trip, Osnan brought onboard screenwriter Adele Lim, who was born in Malaysia and expressed delight that the film took inspiration from her culture. She wanted Raya to embody the tradition of female warriors in Southeast Asia. Alongside Lim, her co-writer Qui Nguyen and directors Don Hall and Carlos López-Estrada were also brought in to join the production team. The filmmakers' aim was to celebrate the culture and diversity of Southeast Asia through the five kingdoms of Kumandra. López Estrada described this as "very different traditions, very different cultures, very different identities" that come together and develop into a harmonious people after learning to trust each other. Rather than drawing ideas from one specific place for creating the fictional land of Kumandra, the team took inspiration from many cultural influences across the countries of Southeast Asia. Lim opined that although there are many different people within the region, "it's wonderful because of all these different elements".
In addition to making several research trips to various Southeast Asian countries, the production team collaborated with the Southeast Asian Story Trust, a group of cultural experts from different backgrounds who advised on various cultural aspects of the film. The production team also felt that it was important to cast Asian and Asian American actors in the film, including Awkwafina, who voices Sisu the dragon.
Voice
Raya is voiced by American actress Kelly Marie Tran. Canadian actress Cassie Steele was originally cast in the role, which was officially announced when the project was unveiled D23 Expo in August 2019. By August 2020, she had been replaced by Tran, who had previously auditioned for the role. Having initially lost out, Tran was surprised to get a call to say she had got the part, describing it as "horrifying". According to Walt Disney Animation Studios, the replacement was made out of needing a different type of performer. Shurer explained that the casting change was necessary due to changes made to Raya, which meant that Steele's voice was no longer right for the character.
Tran is the first Southeast Asian actress to take the lead role in a Disney film. López Estrada and Hall were stunned by her audition and knew she was perfect for the role. Hall said, "She is Raya — just her buoyancy and her positivity, but yet there's a strength as well to Kelly and the character". They were particularly impressed by her comedy and ad-lib skills, as well as the depth of emotion that she brought to the character. After improvising one of the scenes, the filmmakers decided to change it to match her performance due to being so impressed by her interpretation, which López Estrada said "had us all in tears". In the scene, Raya builds an altar and sheds tears after reciting a prayer to the dragon Sisu, overwhelmed with emotion. Tran was encouraged to give her own interpretation of the scene, which ultimately diverged from the script. Tran thought it important to express her desperation and said that, while other strong female characters tend to be portrayed "almost masculine to the point of erasing femininity", she wanted Raya to show various sides of her character. For Tran, who had previously been cast in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and was subjected to racist and sexist harassment on social media by fans, the scene was her way into Raya's character. She felt that she had previously viewed the world through rose-coloured glasses and, like Raya, had returned with more experience. Having been a Disney fan at school, she felt that the role provided an ideal opportunity to express her heritage. She said she had never voiced words in Vietnamese before and was able to work with Nguyen on the pronunciation of words in Kumandra.
The film was the first by Walt Disney Animation Studios to be mostly produced from home due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that Tran, along with the other actors, voiced the character remotely using recording equipment sent to her home by Disney Animation's technology department. The problem of creating proper acoustics was solved by building a tent out of sound blankets in her living room. Joking that it was not a glamorous experience, Tran said that her boyfriend was able to construct the tent for her by taping the blankets to the walls with duct tape and pushing furniture together. Creating Raya was a collaborative process involving many discussions. Tran said that she used her own experiences as inspiration for the character: "I won't be able to see where I end and where Raya begins, and vice versa." As a Vietnamese American, Tran commented that in her youth she never saw her culture represented anywhere and thus felt that the film presents the idea that anyone can be a princess or warrior regardless of their background or appearance. She described Raya as a "really badass, gritty warrior" and was pleased to work on a film that attempts to "flip the narrative on what it means to be a princess".
Characterisation According to Tran, many initial conversations about Raya centred around establishing a character that had not been seen before and challenging the concept of what constitutes a "princess" and a "hero". In the early stages of production there was a disagreement at Walt Disney Animation Studios over whether Raya could be given the title of Disney Princess. It was Lim who insisted that she should, being of the opinion that a princess should be capable of leading a kingdom. She said that having grown up with Disney Princesses such as Snow White, it was meaningful to see Disney draw characters from diverse cultures and she wanted girls to see themselves in Raya. Shurer said that the contemporary Disney Princess is an "aspirational character", explaining that the studio aimed to depict characters like Raya and Moana in a very different way to earlier princesses in order to reflect the values of the production team. Lim felt that Raya's struggle to restore the broken kingdom is relevant to children in the real world, despite being set in a fantasy land. She commented that solving the problems of the broken land is a difficult task and that, even though Raya is betrayed and loses everything, she "has to keep reaching out" to succeed. Shurer commented that being a female hero in a Disney film does not automatically define the character as a princess, but she considered the responsibility of being a leader in a divided world as important to Raya's success as being a warrior.
The production team decided to make Raya an action-adventure fantasy rather than a musical or a Disney Princess film. Hall said that despite technically being a princess due to being the daughter of the Chief of Heart, Raya is focused on being the Guardian of the Dragon Gem, thereby serving as an "aspirational kind of warrior character." Nguyen, who is Vietnamese American, noted that Raya is Disney's first Southeast Asian princess and said that it was personally significant to see a character that "really represented me, our voice, our culture". For Lim, Raya represents the culture of her youth. Having grown up with Hong Kong action films, she enjoyed watching "the hot girl, the mean girl, the villain", but after immigrating to the United States she came to realise that strong female characters in Hollywood films hardly had a story arc because they were already depicted as physically perfect. Lim also commented that Raya's relationship with her father Benja is representative of the culture of close relationships in a Southeast Asian family and her father's enormous influence on her own life. Nguyen said that Raya's characterisation needed to be realistic and reflect the spirit of the women that he grew up with. Noting that Asian American characters in film were often stereotyped as "stoic, serious, oddly obsessed with bringing honor to our family", he said that Raya was written to be "fun", "quippy" and "clever". In consultation with the Story Trust, the production team considered numerous names for their heroine. Lim was immediately drawn to the name Raya, explaining that in the Malay language it means "celebration" and "evokes this joyful time where people come together around a lot of food".