New Frozen 2 songs, plot details, and characters revealed at D23 presentation

Frozen 2 is just around the corner, but D23’s Walt Disney Studios panel revealed more about the upcoming sequel, including the specifics on some mysterious voice roles.

Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee, who also wrote and co-directed Frozen, took to the stage with Chris Buck, co-director of the original and the sequel. The two talked about how, after the release of the first movie, many fans asked them just why Elsa got her powers, which naturally led to them scheming up the sequel. Frozen 2 will take the core cast of characters into an enchanted forest, where everything looks to be fall, a place full of much change.

“In the end,” said Lee, “Nothing will be the same.”

The pair revealed that Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood would voice Elsa and Anna’s mother, Queen Iduna.

“In these Disney films, we tend to kill off the parents,” began Buck, “but guess what — we’re bringing them back!”

“For a scene!” added Lee

A brief clip showed a flashback of the queen signing a folk song to her two young girls.

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Sterling K. Brown, meanwhile, plays Destin Mattias, a lieutenant who has been leading a troop of soldiers lost in the enchanted forest for years. A clip shown to the crowd saw Mattias talking to Anna about how much he misses his father.

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Footage from the film opened to a scene of the core characters — Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven — playing charades. While Anna and Olaf are very skilled at the game, Elsa flounders. She’s distracted by a mysterious voice she hears singing outside, one that none of the other characters can hear. She retires early for the evening, and Sven and Olaf follow suit. Kristoff wants to use this opportunity to propose to Anna, but she’s concerned about Elsa and doesn’t pick up on his romantic signals.

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Anna finds Elsa in her bedroom. Elsa confides that she’s scared of “messing things up.” Anna comforts her and the two cuddle, signing the folk song that their mother sang to them when they were younger. They drift asleep.

Elsa then bolts awake, She hears the mysterious voice calling to her again. She gets out of bed and starts to sing a song — untitled as of yet, but considering the repetition of the phrase, it’ll probably be called “Into the Unknown” — about how she wants to follow the voice, but is scared to do so. She goes outside, signing about the call of the mysterious voice and how she wants to use her powers, creating swirling animals and objects with her ice powers. The clip ends with her running up a cliff and reaching for the sky.

After the clip, the cast of Frozen 2 took the stage to sing one last song, entitled “Some Things Never Change.” The song is very fall-themed, with lyrics about pumpkins and an overall theme of friendship. A new poster shows off more of the mysterious enchanted forest.

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