Adele Lim: Last News

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor“Crazy Rich Asians” screenwriter Adele Lim never thought in her wildest dreams that she would be part of a Disney animated feature, let alone one that is set in Southeast Asia.But Disney’s newest tale, “Raya and the Last Dragon” (now streaming on Disney Plus), delivers its first Southeast Asian princess, Raya, a warrior who sets out across the mythical realm of Kumandra as she seeks out the last dragon.Lim, who is of Malaysian descent, says: “To be a part of this where the place where I grew up was going to be the central inspiration and to have a Disney heroine, a warrior princess so that my daughter can look at and see her face reflected, means the world to me.”The importance of Raya to Lim goes deeper than

, sets up certain expectations: You know that the main character will be Raya, the warrior princess voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, and that you'd better meet a dragon sooner or later.Though the project had been in the works at Disney for six or so years, when 's core team — directors Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, writers Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen and producer Osnat Shurer — came onboard in the past couple years, even those components were still in flux.«This idea of creating a fantasy world based on the cultures of Southeast Asia that felt unique and cool and really interesting was always baked in,» Hall tells ET.

Kelly Marie Tran is taking on an exciting new role.