Disney pulled back the curtain on Frozen 3 at D23, unveiling the sequel’s first footage and dropping some surprisingly major story details. Anna and Kristoff are heading down the aisle, Olaf has found his first crush, and the next adventure appears to be taking the gang well beyond Arendelle.
The big reveal came as Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad reunited on the D23 stage to tease what’s ahead for Anna, Elsa and Olaf.
And after years of Disney keeping the story firmly on ice, D23 finally gave fans something substantial to work with. Read on for what we know so far, and be sure to watch a fan-shot video of the complete Frozen 3 presentation, along with official video posts from Disney, below.
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Anna and Kristoff Are Getting Married
First up: the wedding is happening.
“Anna is finally getting hitched to her mountain man, Kristoff,” Bell told the crowd, confirming that Anna and Jonathan Groff’s Kristoff will finally tie the knot after becoming engaged at the end of Frozen 2.
The footage shown at D23 takes viewers into their wedding celebrations, but it doesn’t look like married life is going to remain peaceful for very long.
On the night of the wedding, Anna and Kristoff come across Elsa on a dock examining a mysterious stone. From there, things get considerably stranger. An icy butterfly appears and draws Elsa towards an aurora in the sky, which seemingly opens a gateway to another snow-covered location.
Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven ultimately find themselves together in this unfamiliar place, where the butterfly approaches the hand of a shadowy woman.
She crushes it.
“We finally meet,” the woman tells Anna and Elsa. Elsa’s response is fairly direct: she fires a blast of magic at her.
Disney is keeping the character’s identity secret for now, but the studio describes her as a new villainess whose powers rival Elsa’s. Menzel also teased that the gang will find themselves “far from Arendelle” facing something “more wild and dangerous than anything else” they’ve battled before.
So, probably not the relaxing post-wedding getaway Anna and Kristoff had in mind.
Olaf Is Falling in Love — With Samantha
Romance apparently isn’t limited to the newlyweds. Gad took to the stage to perform a new Olaf song titled “Ooooh, Samantha,” revealing that the relentlessly cheerful snowman is getting his first crush in Frozen 3. And yes, that name is very deliberate.
Gad described Olaf’s romantic journey as finding “one snowflake in a blizzard of other snowflakes,” which sounds about as Olaf as a love story could possibly get.
Samantha was, of course, the completely imaginary person Olaf called out for in one of Frozen 2’s funniest gags, making the new song a pretty impressive long-game payoff. Whether Samantha turns out to be another snowperson, something considerably stranger or simply another Olaf misunderstanding remains to be seen.
Bell and Menzel also performed a new version of “Frozen Heart,” the song that opened the original Frozen back in 2013.
Both songs come from returning Oscar-winning songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the duo behind the franchise’s biggest songs, including “Let It Go” and “Into the Unknown.”
The Cast and Creative Team
Bell, Menzel, Gad and Groff are all back as Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Kristoff, respectively, with Sven naturally joining the group for the next adventure.
Jennifer Lee, who co-directed the first two Frozen films, is directing alongside Trent Correy, whose Disney credits include Once Upon a Studio, Once Upon a Snowman and Zootopia+. Christina Chen produces.
The sequel has some enormous snow boots to fill. Frozen earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide following its 2013 release, while Frozen 2 went even bigger in 2019, taking around $1.45 billion globally.
And Disney clearly isn’t planning to let the franchise go anytime soon. Frozen 4 is already in development, meaning whatever happens with this mysterious new villain and Elsa’s latest journey may have ramifications beyond the third film.
When Will Frozen 3 Be Released?
Frozen 3 will be released in cinemas on November 24, 2027.
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