Rumor Report: Will Disney Finally Give Elsa A Girlfriend In Frozen 3?
Could we finally see our first LGBTQ+ princess in a future Disney movie?
According to a new rumor published by We Got This Covered, the House of Mouse might be ready to give Elsa a girlfriend... but we may have to wait a while for it to happen. If the rumor turns out to be true, Elsa's sexuality will be explored in the third installment of the Frozen franchise — a film that has yet to be announced but likely will come to fruition. The outlet claims that "the intention is for Elsa to have a girlfriend in the threequel, confirming her sexuality in the process." Anonymous sources close to We Got This Covered have reportedly noted that this is "definitely happening" in Frozen 3.
This isn't the first time we've heard about the possibility of Elsa getting a girlfriend, though. When Evan Rachel Wood was cast in Frozen 2, there was speculation that she could be playing the Snow Queen's love interest. We know now that particular rumor isn't true, but it does seem like this new one may carry a bit more weight than others that have come before.
Was Elsa meant to have a girlfriend in Frozen 2?
Early on in the development of Frozen 2, rumors swirled that the film would delve into Elsa's sexuality. Idina Menzel, who voices the character, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (via Entertainment Weekly) in September 2016 and voiced her support for the idea of Elsa being revealed as gay. "I'm all for it. I think it's a wonderful idea. It's a wonderful conversation that we should all have about whether a Disney princess or queen could be gay," Menzel said at the time, although she later noted that she couldn't promise it would actually happen.
By August 2019, it was confirmed that Frozen 2 would explore the source of Elsa's powers, but it would not address her sexuality. Songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez told IGN that Frozen 2 wouldn't feature any kind of love interest for the Queen of Arendelle, stating, "Like the first movie, Elsa is not just defined by a romantic interest." She then explained that Frozen 2 directors Jennifer Lee (who co-wrote the script) and Chris Buck didn't want romance to be the movie's core focus or the most interesting thing about Elsa. "There's so many movies that define a woman by her romantic interest," Anderson-Lopez said. "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?"
There may be more to it than that, however. In August 2018, Revenge of the Fans claimed that Disney was actually planning to give Elsa a girlfriend in Frozen 2. According to We Got This Covered's new report, this plan fell apart because Disney was afraid of revealing the Queen of Arendelle's sexuality. The studio allegedly feared that if Frozen 2 included a girlfriend for Elsa, the film would be be banned in countries where homosexuality is considered taboo or is still punishable by law. Now, Disney is said to be hopeful that the time between Frozen 2 and Frozen 3 will give the world a chance to change, and that the revelation of Elsa being gay "won't cause as much controversy as it would right now."
Elsa is already considered an LGBTQ+ icon
Regardless of whether Elsa was meant to have a female love interest in Frozen 2 or whether Disney will give her one in Frozen 3, the character is still considered a queer icon amongst countless fans. Since the release of the original film's most popular song "Let It Go," which has been adopted by many as a sort of coming out anthem, the possibility of Elsa being Disney's first LGBTQ+ princess has been widely discussed. The hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend hit Twitter hard, and a Change.org petition in favor of making Elsa a lesbian garnered a few thousand supporters.
In February 2018, Lee told HuffPost that she loved the way in which the character has been embraced: "I love everything people are saying [and] people are thinking about with our film ― that it's creating dialogue, that Elsa is this wonderful character that speaks to so many people. It means the world to us that we're part of these conversations."
And though we now know Elsa won't find her princess in Frozen 2, Lee certainly made it seem as though that could happen somewhere down the line. "Where we're going with it, we have tons of conversations about it, and we're really conscientious about these things," she said. "For me ... Elsa's every day telling me where she needs to go, and she'll continue to tell us. I always write from character-out, and where Elsa is and what Elsa's doing in her life, she's telling me every day. We'll see where we go."
The future of Frozen
All things considered, we still have a long way to go before the question of Elsa's sexuality potentially gets answered on screen. Frozen 2 isn't set to hit theaters until November 22, 2019 — a full six years after the release of Frozen. And while Frozen 3 seems like a sure thing based on the monumental popularity of the original and the expected success of the sequel, it isn't included as part of Disney's release schedule up through 2026. There are, however, several untitled "Disney Animation" slots Frozen 3 could fit into, should the studio move forward with making the film. For now, though, we'll just have to speculate about Elsa's future true love, whomever they may be.