Australian actress Georgina Haig may have only signed up for a guest role in the TV fantasy drama Once Upon a Time, but the $US1.2 billion box office of the Disney movie juggernaut Frozen means that all eyes are now on Elsa.
Haig will play the live-action version of Disney's billion dollar girl, who was the animated film's breakout "star", as part of a storyline in which the Frozen characters join the TV series Once Upon a Time.
The series, produced by the Disney-owned ABC Studios, is a fairy tale mash-up, and features contemporary versions of Snow White, Prince Charming, Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, the Disney princess Belle, the Evil Queen, Jiminy Cricket and others.
The addition of the Frozen storyline to the series is generating massive buzz in the United States; in Australia the series screens on the Seven Network.
In addition to Haig's role as Elsa, the Snow Queen of Arendelle, four other characters from Frozen will make the leap from animation to live-action as part of the crossover storyline.
They are the iceman Kristoff, who will be played by Scott Michael Foster, Elsa's sister Princess Anna (Elizabeth Lail), Prince Hans (Tyler Jacob Moore) and Grand Pabbie the Troll King (John Rhys-Davies).
Haig is best known in the US as one of the stars of the science fiction series Fringe. She also starred in the Seven Network's Michael Hutchence biographical drama INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, playing Hutchence's wife Paula Yates.
She is currently starring on US television in the CBS network police drama Reckless, but there is little doubt that her guest arc on Once Upon a Time, playing one of Disney's highest profile characters, will bring her enormous attention.
Once Upon a Time's producers Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have told US media they are not simply "re-doing" the film.
"We’re not going to redo the movie, because we just don’t feel like it’s in anyone’s interest for us to redo it," Horowitz said.
"What we can say is we’re very aware of what we think makes Frozen so special and we want to honour that and make sure that what we do is in the universe of (what) everyone fell in love with this past year."
Haig will make her debut on Once Upon a Time in the show's fourth season premiere in September; the Seven Network is expected to screen the Frozen crossover episodes of Once Upon a Time in Australia after they are broadcast in the US.
Since its release last November, Frozen has grossed more than $US1.2 billion at the international box office.
When it was released on DVD and Blu-ray in February, it sold 3.2 million copies in the US within 24 hours. It has also set records as the fastest-selling digital release of all time.
