Can you fathom a world without Frozen‘s Olaf? Imagine, if you will, car rides devoid of sing-a-longs about building a snowman. What would you have done? The thought chills my spine when I think about the possibilities. Who doesn’t love the off-key echo of tiny voices from a back seat warbling about seasons and winter magic on repeat? Well, the Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation and co-director of Frozen, Jennifer Lee, that’s who. I’m just kidding. Or am I?

Speaking with Variety, Lee confessed that she almost ordered animators to melt the happy-go-lucky snowman into the ground. She is the co-director of Frozen but came onto the project after the animated musical was already in production. After analyzing an early cut of the film, Lee’s first note was to “kill the snowman,” Olaf. Shocked by Lee’s analysis, an animator working on the...