Anna marries Kristoff, something supernatural crashes the wedding, and Josh Gad performed a new song that pays off a seven-year-old running joke from “Frozen II.”
“Frozen 3” arrives Nov. 24, 2027, and Disney closed its D23 showcase by giving away most of the plot.
Anna marries Kristoff. Something dangerous interrupts it. And Olaf falls in love with someone named Samantha.
If that name means nothing to you, it means everything to anyone who saw “Frozen II.”
Why Olaf’s girlfriend is named Samantha
The joke has been running since 2019.
In “Frozen II,” Olaf calls out “Samantha?” while wandering the enchanted forest. There is no Samantha. Nobody in the film is named Samantha. The gag exists purely because it makes no sense, and it became one of the most quoted moments in the movie.
Seven years later, Olaf has a love interest by that name.
Josh Gad performed the new song, “Ooooh, Samantha,” at the Honda Center. TheWrap described it as carrying calypso and disco overtones.
Gad framed Olaf’s romance as “one snowflake in a blizzard of other snowflakes.” Disney has not explicitly confirmed the callback, though the name is unlikely to be a coincidence.
What happens in Frozen 3
The story picks up with a wedding.
Kristen Bell revealed that Anna will finally marry Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff. Idina Menzel teased that “love is in the air for everyone,” prompting Bell to ask, “Everyone? Even Olaf?”
Per Empire, supernatural events encroach on both the wedding and the honeymoon.
Menzel said the characters will be “far from Arendelle,” facing a threat “more wild and dangerous than anything else” they have encountered.
Footage shown at D23 gave a first look at Anna, Elsa and Olaf confronting what appears to be a new villain.
What new music is in Frozen 3
Bell and Menzel opened with a reworked version of a song fans already know.
The two performed “Frozen Heart,” the original film’s opening number, in what Empire described as a moodier, more mysterious arrangement.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who wrote “Let It Go” and won an Oscar for it, are returning to write the new music.
The performance had technical problems. Bell wound up narrating what was supposed to happen as she and Menzel emerged from behind a giant screen, which several outlets described as more charming than the intended version.
Disney has posted the full performance publicly.
Watch the D23 performance:
Who is directing Frozen 3
Jennifer Lee and Trent Correy direct.
Lee wrote and co-directed the original “Frozen” with Chris Buck, along with “Frozen II,” and serves as chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The franchise is rooted in Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” though it departed from that story considerably.
How big is the Frozen franchise
The numbers explain why a third film exists.
The 2013 original grossed $1.28 billion worldwide. “Frozen II” topped it in 2019 with $1.45 billion.
The first soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2014 and held the top spot for 13 weeks. “Let It Go” spent 33 weeks on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 5 for five of them.
Seven years separate “Frozen II” from this one, which is a longer gap than most Disney sequels get.
Frozen at the Disney parks
The franchise expanded into the parks faster than almost any Disney property.
Frozen Ever After opened at EPCOT in 2016. Hong Kong Disneyland followed in 2023 with a full Arendelle-themed land, and Disneyland Paris opened its own version in 2026.
A Frozen stage show has run at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for years.
What else Disney Animation has coming
Nov. 24, 2027 sits inside a crowded slate.
“Zootopia 3” is confirmed in development. “Hexed” arrives Nov. 25 this year with Walton Goggins, Hailee Steinfeld and Jodie Foster in her first Disney animated film.
“Lilo & Stitch 2” is dated May 28, 2028, with Chris Sanders directing.
On the Pixar side, “Incredibles 3” arrives in summer 2028 and “Coco 2” follows in November 2029.
Anna’s wedding is a year and a half out. The Samantha joke will have been running for eight years by then.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Billboard, the Nov. 24, 2027 date, the directors, the Lopez songwriting return, the box office figures and the chart history
Empire, the plot details including the wedding and honeymoon and the “Frozen Heart” arrangement
TheWrap, the D23 technical difficulties, the song’s calypso and disco description and the villain first look
Today, the confirmation of Anna and Kristoff’s wedding and the showcase finale placement
AOL, the Frozen Ever After park timeline across EPCOT, Hong Kong and Paris
Playbill, the wedding storyline confirmation