Disney’s best live-action remakes have been so successful for the studio that it’s a question of when, not if, your favorite animated Disney movie will get the live-action treatment. Considering how popular Frozen and Frozen II were the first time around, they were the highest-grossing animated movies ever made until Inside Out 2 recently broke that record, it’s a shock that a live-action adaptation hasn’t been announced already.
That announcement could honestly come any day now because Anya Taylor-Joy has expressed interest in playing a live-action version of Elsa. Needless to say, this idea broke the internet, because she certainly does look the part. She also excited the original Frozen cast, as Josh Gad responded to the idea on Threads, indicating he wants to be part of the eventual live-action film, but not as Olaf. Gad said…
I would like to begin my campaign to play live action Hans.
Clearly, if Anya Taylor-Joy leads a live-action Frozen simply reprising his role as Olaf won’t be good enough for Josh Gad. Olaf would obviously be a CGI character in such a movie, but Gad seemingly wants to get on set to act opposite Taylor-Joy, so he’s throwing his hat in the ring to play Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, the movie’s villain.
While Josh Gad certainly doesn’t look like Hans in the same way that Anya Taylor-Joy looks like Elsa, he would be an excellent Disney villain. He'd honestly be pretty good in such a role. Hans is charismatic and fun, but secretly underhanded. Gad would be great at all of that. More importantly, playing Hans would give him more scenes with Anya Taylor-Joy than he’d get if he played Kristoff.
Since we know that a live-action Moana movie is on the way, Disney certainly has no issue giving even some of its newest animated films the live-action treatment. It’s been rumored that a live-action Frozen movie is among the planned upcoming Disney live-action remakes, but nothing has ever been officially announced.
If there have been discussions about the project at the studio, it’s difficult to imagine that Anya Taylor-Joy wasn’t already on a casting wish list. She’s an incredible actress, she looks the part already, and we know she can sing. Taylor-Joy performed a haunting rendition of “Downtown” in One Night in Soho. I think we'd all love to hear what she can do with "Let it Go."
The only negative is that Taylor-Joy is almost 30, and Elsa is supposed to be much younger. Still, all that really means is that Disney needs to not dawdle and get this movie made sooner rather than later.
One movie that we know is coming is Frozen 3. That movie, which will be broken into two parts, isn’t set to debut until 2027. There’s a pretty good chance we could see a live-action Frozen before the third animated film even arrives.
