Frozen 2 chose not to address Elsa’s (voiced by Idina Menzel) romantic life, instead taking her further on the mission to discover who she really was. Rather than explore the Disney character’s sexuality, the sequel delved deeper into the source of her magical powers. The original movie made Elsa an LGBTQ+ icon with her incredible anthem, Let It Go.
The song saw the Queen break free of her constraints, liberating herself from having to pretend to be something she wasn’t and beginning to live like as her authentic self.
In the film, she also transformed physically, ditching her stiff royal garb for a slinky ice gown and sweeping her blonde hair back into her now-famous fishtail plait.
In a previous interview with the Scriptnotes podcast, Frozen director Jennifer Lee spoke out about the “push and pull” creators had over Elsa’s sexuality in that moment.
“Everyone was seduced by her,” she said. “And so there was this tug of war, I think, a bit, of letting people have a little… People who wanted to have that a little a not be afraid of it but not make it a sexual statement.”
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The Frozen boss revealed, for her, Let It Go was more about empowerment than sexuality.
“It’s more a moment of, for me, it was like you strut and you say nobody is looking, this is what I’m going to — I’m not going to be afraid of my sexuality,” she said. “I’m not going to be afraid of who I am.
“I am not going to be afraid of anything about myself.”
Let It Go was the driving force behind a viral campaign which later pushed for Frozen directors to #GiveElsaAGirlfriend in the sequel.
However, it wasn’t to be and, instead, Elsa’s love life was omitted once again from the narrative.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Lee explained the decision to leave Elsa’s romantic life out of the story for the second time.
She and her co-director Chris Buck did personality tests for all the characters and found Elsa wasn’t ready for a relationship at all but, instead, needed to focus on her journey of self-discovery.
“She’s carrying a lot of pressure and the weight of her kingdom on her shoulders and struggling with this call for her powers,” the filmmaker explained. “That’s where she was, so for us, it really hadn’t come up in terms of what fit with where the story was going again.”
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“And we knew the end we wanted for her,” she added. “So, it [giving Elsa a romantic partner] just didn’t fit with where she was in her life.”
However, Lee and Buck have been careful not to shut down the idea of Elsa finding love in the future and have refused to dismiss the idea of a same-sex relationship in the future.
“I don’t know if it’ll fit in the future,” she said. “We haven’t asked that question and I’m not stretching past Frozen 2 about what happens to these characters in their lives! But it’s just not where she was now.”
Elsa actress Menzel, meanwhile, has also left the door open to the possibility of the character getting a girlfriend in a potential third film.
In an interview with Refinery29, she emphasised the importance of the other aspects of the Disney heroine’s life, saying: “What’s important to realise is that it’s not about romantic love — she’s never been about that.
“In these films, the most powerful thing is that she’s always trying to find and build the love inside for herself.
“She doesn’t need a man to complete her in any way, and that focus isn’t there,” she added.
On the subject of Elsa finding love in the future, she said: “Maybe in another incarnation or another sequel, who knows?”