The new Frozen short Once Upon A Snowman might be an opportunity to expand Olaf's backstory, but it's a major example that the blockbuster series is focusing on the wrong things. The short, which premieres on Disney+ on October 23rd and brings back Josh Gad as the fan-favorite snowman, tells the story of what happened to Olaf between Elsa bringing him back to life and Anna discovering him during Frozen. The short is directed by Trent Correy and Dan Abraham, respectively the animation supervisor and story supervisor for Olaf on Frozen 2.
In Frozen, Elsa creates Olaf during "Let It Go" while she's making her way up the mountain, and he later reappears when Anna and Kristoff are traveling through the forest. Olaf's experiences between those two moments might be a mystery, but he's a major fixture in the rest of the movie as well as the sequel, Frozen 2. The snowman went on to become a massively popular character, with his first short Olaf's Frozen Adventure premiering ahead of Coco in 2017. While the announcement of Once Upon A Snowman isn't surprising considering Olaf's popularity, it's a sign that the Frozen series is continuing to answer the wrong questions.
Much like the Toy Story spinoff series, Forky Asks A Question, the Olaf shorts are designed to appeal to the widest possible audience instead of further enriching the franchise. Bringing Olaf back is both an easy win and a guarantee that Once Upon A Snowman will be successful, but Olaf's backstory wasn't included in Frozen for a reason: it's not relevant to the story. While Josh Gad's popular character works well as comic relief for both Frozen films, Olaf's Frozen Adventure proved that Olaf cannot carry a story by himself - and he shouldn't have. A new Frozen short would be better if it focused on expanding the lore in Frozen 2.
Frozen 2's biggest criticism was introducing too much new mythology and leaving most of it unclear, creating massive plot holes that included the origins of the Enchanted Forest and Ahtohallan. These criticisms were partially addressed in the docuseries Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2, which explained that the plot holes were partially a result of co-director and writer Jennifer Lee not knowing the answer to certain narrative questions. Resolving those problems would be a much better plot for a new Frozen short.
While Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2 was specifically addressing the confusion around who the voice calling to Elsa was, the same lack of foresight resulted in the significant amount of lore introduced in Frozen 2 that was never clarified or explained. Centering a Frozen short around the origins of the Enchanted Forest, Ahtohallan, or the indigenous Northuldra people would make it a much better addition to the franchise. Instead of putting out another Olaf short - which might be an easy way to make a successful short, if not a necessary one - the series would be better off with one that dove into the origin of the four elemental spirits. (After all, the water spirit's name wasn't even mentioned in Frozen 2, despite a name being made for it - Nokk.)
Continuing to focus the series on Olaf's goofy adventures with Once Upon A Snowman instead of expanding and clarifying the mythology that's already been introduced is a mistake, and a sign that Frozen is continuing to answer the wrong questions. Instead of retroactively fixing the biggest problem with Frozen 2, Frozen is continuing to retread old ground and make another unnecessary Olaf adventure that answers a question no one is asking. Frozen already made Olaf's Frozen Adventures, and it doesn't need Once Upon A Snowman.
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