'It's more about loving yourself': The cast of 'Frozen 2' talk possible Elsa romance, plot details, new characters and more
One big reason the 2013 mega-hit Frozen connected with audiences is that, unlike so many previous Disney princess movies, its two lead characters, Elsa and Anna, were never defined by romantic relationships with men. Frozen’s central love story was really about the familial bond between sisters.
Yet that hasn’t kept fans from speculating whether Elsa (voiced by Broadway star Idina Menzel) will find romantic love in Frozen II, most notably with the #GiveElsaaGirlfriend campaign on social media.
From the sounds of it, however, the Elsa shippers may have to wait until Frozen 3.
"That's what I love about the writers of Frozen, they've always explored how they can broaden the idea of what true love is, and they continue to do that," Menzel told Yahoo Entertainment at Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif., this weekend. "It's more about loving yourself and finding that thing inside you that makes you special and that you can really own and believe in. And I think it's about family."
Kristen Bell, who voices Anna, offered more plot details as it pertains to the Arendelle royals.
Frozen 2 "maintains the development in their relationship," Bell said. "But it also sort of broadens it because they are … forced to go on this pretty dangerous adventure that is far outside the walls of Arendelle to find answers to the origins of Elsa's magical powers. And along the way they learn a lot of dark secrets that threaten the future of Arendelle.
"So while the first movie was about the two of them figuring out who they were in relation to one another, and how stable they wanted to be together, this is sort of who they want to be in life."
There will also be major new characters involved, including Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) and Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us).
"I play Queen Iduna, Anna and Elsa's mother, who we lost in the first film in the Disney tradition," Wood laughed, referencing the studio's long-running habit of killing off parents. "But we get to see a bit more of her in the second one and revisit the past [via flashbacks] and uncover some mysteries that we didn't know before."
"I play General Mattias, who was a soldier in the Arendelle army," Brown explained. "He's sort of a figure from Elsa and Anna's past because he worked for their grandfather when he was the king. And they get a chance to learn some things from their past they did not know. And they kind of help pull him into the present as well."
Brown, whose been known to get emotional, whether on This Is Us or while hosting Saturday Night Live, promised the highly anticipated sequel will offer some good tears.
"Listen, if you don't [cry], the heart muscles need to be softened up a little bit because, yeah, this one should get you."
Frozen 2 opens Nov. 22. Watch the trailer:
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