"Like the first movie, Elsa is not just defined by a romantic interest," said Kristen Anderson-Lopez. "There's so many movies that define a woman by her romantic interest. That's not a story that we wanted to tell at this point in time. What we really wanted to tell was if you have these powers, how do you grow and change and find your place in the world and find answers that haven't been found before?"Disney featured Frozen 2 at the end of its D23 Disney Theatrical Panel. There, the creative team explained that the impetus to making Frozen 2 was to answer the frequently asked question: Why does Elsa have powers? The movie will also touch on where Anna and Elsa's parents were going when their ship went down and explore a past that "wasn't what it seems, a past that could threaten the future of Arendelle, a past that leads our gang to an enchanted forest." Co-director Chris Buck said Frozen and its sequel will "work together to form one complete story."
The D23 panel offered a first look at a new song for Elsa, which sees her grappling with whether or not to pursue a mysterious singing voice that is calling out to her. The lyrics go: "Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake? Or are you someone out there who’s a little bit like me, who knows deep down I’m not where I’m meant to be? Every day’s a little harder as I feel my power grow. Don’t you know there’s a part of me that longs to go into the unknown?"Robert Lopez spoke to IGN about the challenges of making new songs to match the hype and passion surrounding the first Frozen's soundtrack.
"This is the very first musical sequel that Disney Animation has ever done," said Lopez. "We realized as we were writing it that that is a very tricky maze to tackle and we were kind of finding our way blind. You can't just take similar versions of the same songs and put them back in. It all comes from the story. We're not hit-makers; we're storytellers. It was all about finding that story and seeing the songs emerge from it. Every song takes the story forward."Frozen 2 stars Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown and Evan Rachel Wood, and hits theaters on November 22, 2019. Terri Schwartz is Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
Laura Prudom contributed to this report.