Just when I was ready to let it go, Frozen II pulls me back in.

Despite my love for the original Frozen, the pop culture zeitgeist that blew up into a phenomenon became too saturated. Then what really left me cold was that lame Christmas episode tagged onto the front of Coco, followed by a stage adaptation that (while I’ve not seen it myself) did not take Broadway by storm, playing to mixed reviews for a slavish-to-a-fault carbon copy production.

Frozen, an inspired original (okay, loosely based on an old fairy tale), had suddenly become an uninspired franchise. All of the tea leaves seemed to suggest that Disney was merely content with coasting on an IP.

But now they’ve dropped the first teaser for Frozen II and my hopes are soaring once more.

Nothing about this feels laborous or safe, or that Disney is simply gliding on the first film’s coattails. Indeed, the fact that you don’t hear one cue reference to “Let It Go” actually speaks volumes about how confident the studio is about where this sequel will take us, into new and exciting directions rather than retreading down well-worn paths.

The teaser — from its moody, mysterious intro to its filled-with-possibilities climax — delivers exactly on that promise. This looks like it will actually be about something, and not just coasting. I’m legitimately stoked.

Frozen II — co-written and co-directed by Jennifer Lee, the creative force behind the first, and starring the returning voice cast of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad, along with newcomers Sterling K. Brown and Evan Rachel Wood — opens on November 22, 2019 for the Thanksgiving holiday.