The award-winning TV stars join the original cast for the highly anticipated sequel.
Walt Disney Animation has cast two new voices for Frozen 2, as Evan Rachel Wood and Sterling K. Brown are in talks to join the sequel’s ensemble, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee will return as directors along with original Frozen stars Kristen Bell (Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Josh Gad (Olaf), and Jonathan Groff (Kristoff). The plot of the film is still unknown, but the release date is set for November 27, 2019.
This past week has been big for Wood and Brown, as they both landed Emmy nominations for their lead performances on the TV series Westworld and This Is Us, respectively. Brown also received a nomination in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category for his appearance on a single episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
This will be Brown’s second voice acting role for an animated feature, as he was recently cast for another sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2. His only other existing voice work was in a May episode of Robot Chicken. Wood has also done an episode of that show and has voiced characters in the animated features Strange Magic, Battle for Terra, Shark Bait, and Asterix and the Vikings, for which she’s credited on the English-language dub.
Since there is no information in regards to plot or the names of the characters they’ll be portraying, it’s unknown if Wood and Brown will be playing starring roles or something smaller. However, with memorable characters like “The Duke of Weasel-town” and the guy who says “Yoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!,” there really is no such thing as a small part in the Frozen franchise. Everyone is memorable.
I’m anxious to see if the roles are villainous. Or if they could be secretly so. The first Frozen broke tradition with its true villain revelation. Not only does its plot involve a princess in danger being saved by the love from her own sister, but it also has an initially charming prince who turns out to not be as good as those we’ve seen in past Disney princess films.
As if Frozen wasn’t already big enough, being of the most popular feminist icon films for young girls, its recent adaptation to the Broadway stage has helped maintain interest in the property that might have waned in the time between Frozen and Frozen 2. The show is blowing up, too, with clips all over the internet and flooding Facebook feeds for those fans not in New York City and able to see the production in person.
With a male and female voice joining the Frozen 2 cast, there’s no telling what could be in store for the upcoming story. Frozen has every story element that we didn’t know we needed: not one, but two princesses; a snowman sidekick who dreams of staying alive year round in the heat; an adorable love interest/non-prince ice delivery man and his reindeer sidekick; and of course songs that every child knows every word to.
This is an ideal start for Brown’s voice acting career, as there couldn’t be a more iconic film to lend his voice to. Although it’s quite a jump from his more serious role on This Is Us, he has quickly proven to be one of the great actors of our time and should be capable of helping create a memorable Disney role.
And, of course, he can sing, too (see him performing below with Frozen‘s Josh Gad and his Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman for the trio’s prior movie together, Marshall). That’s important. Maybe he’ll be singing the next “Love Is an Open Door” that will be stuck in our heads for months after the film’s release.
https://www.facebook.com/joshgad/videos/671415656340327/
And here’s Evan Rachel Wood showing off her vocal talent, which also should be put to use in Frozen 2:
https://twitter.com/evanrachelwood/status/898353716566175746
Related Topics: Frozen
