‘Frozen’ to explore Olaf’s origins in short ‘Once Upon a Snowman’

Sept. 9 (UPI) — Disney announced on Wednesday a new Frozen animated short that will dive into the origins of Olaf titled Once Upon a Snowman.

The short will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on Oct. 23.

Once Upon a Snowman will follow Olaf as he is brought to life and searches for his identity in the snowy mountains outside Arendelle. Fans will see what happened to Olaf the moments after Elsa created him and how he grew to love summer.

Josh Gad, who voiced Olaf in 2013’s Frozen and 2019’s Frozen 2, is returning to portray the snowman.

Trent Correy, who was the animation supervisor on Olaf in Frozen 2 and Dan Abraham, a veteran story artist who worked on Olaf’s “When I Am Older” musical sequence in Frozen 2, are serving as directors.

“This is an idea that started to form when I was an animator on the first Frozen. Dan Abraham and I are so grateful and excited to have had the opportunity to direct this short, working with our incredible colleagues at Walt Disney Animation Studios,” Correy said in a statement.

“Josh Gad gives one of the great animated performances as Olaf through the Frozen films. To have the opportunity to work with him in the recording booth was such a privilege and career highlight,” Abraham said in a statement.

Disney+ released in June a documentary series that chronicled the making of Frozen 2 titled Into the Unknown.