Kelly Marie Tran stars in action-packed first teaser for Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon starring

Disney dropped its first teaser for the upcoming animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon on Wednesday.

Kelly Marie Tran, 31, stars a warrior princess Raya, and dishes up some butt-kicking girl power in the two minute long trailer. 

The computer-animated adventure fantasy is the 59th film produced by the studio and Tran makes history as the first Southeast Asian actress to lead an animated Disney flick. 

Once upon a time, humans and dragons harmoniously coexisted in the fictitious Asian world of Kumandra but when evil threatened the peace the dragons were wiped from existence to in order to save the world.    

A half century later the evil is back and warrior Raya is tasked to find the last living dragon in order to save and unite her people.

‘My whole life I trained to become a guardian of the dragon gem, but this world has changed, and its people are divided,’ Raya says in the teaser. ‘Now to restore peace I must find the last dragon.’   

Raya showcases her expertly honed martial arts skills in the video, aided by her sidekick, an armadillo named Tuk Tuk. 

The duo travel to seek out the legendary last dragon, Sisu, who makes the briefest of appearances in the trailer.

Sisu, a water dragon who can morph into a human, is played by Golden Globe winner Awkwafina.  

In an interview with EW earlier this summer Tran opened up about her groundbreaking new role as Raya.  

‘She is someone who is technically a princess, but I think that what’s really cool about this project, about this character specifically, is that everyone’s trying to flip the narrative on what it means to be a princess,’ Tran said of the titular character. 

Adding: ‘Raya is totally a warrior. When she was a kid, she was excited to get her sword. And she grows up to be a really bada*s, gritty warrior and can really take care of herself.’  

Aside from showcasing Disney’s new warrior princess, the trailer gives fans a look at Kumandra which is an amalgamation of many Southeast Asian cultures like Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and several others. 

Members of the production team reportedly traveled all throughout the area in order to research the sights and customs that were animated for the film. 

‘I remember having this experience of recognizing some of the words and recognizing some of the names and the locations and even certain characters and our job descriptions of what influenced them to be a certain way,’ Tran explained to EW.  

Adding: ‘I felt so seen, and it was such a blissful feeling. I don’t know if I can even explain it, but it was this surprise. I’ve worked on some things before which obviously weren’t as culturally specific as this, and I don’t think that I knew that I needed that.’ 

Raya and the Last Dragon is directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada.

It had been scheduled for release in November of 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the studio pushed back the date with the hopes that the delay will allow for it to be seen in theaters.

The theatrically release for Raya and the Last Dragon is slated for March 12, 2021.