The following contains spoilers for Elemental, now playing in theaters.
In Disney Pixar's Elemental, Ember (played by Leah Lewis) has to make big decisions. She has to find a way to embrace her love with the water-based Wade. Plus, Ember also has to tell her father, Bernie, she doesn't want to take over the family's business -- in this case, a crafts shop.
This premise allows Elemental to speak to choice, freedom and agency. Luckily, by the time the film wraps, Ember's fire-based family has come to accept Wade's water clan and the couple's sense of love. However, while Ember and Wade head off on a new adventure, a couple of threads are set up for a sequel that could evolve them personally and professionally.
Elemental 2 Can Focus on Ember's New Career
Wade's mother, Brook, was in awe of Ember being able to mend a vase using her heat. She arranged for Ember to take on an apprenticeship outside of Element City in glassmaking. Ember realized this artsy direction was her dream, so after she took the offer up, Elemental 2 can focus on how Ember treads this new ground. Interestingly, she was scared to venture out of her comfort zone all her life, but Wade made it clear there are new people and species to meet.
This provides a chance for Ember to learn more about the earth-based elementals, as her home mostly focuses on the fire, air and water tribes. It will also allow Ember to meet new societies, with the franchise showing her not everywhere is as prejudiced as the people back home. Wade will also have an important role as these soulmates explore new cultures and meet new people like the non-binary Lake Ripple. Since Wade has been key to helping Ember control her temper, he can continue to help her stay emotionally balanced.
Conversely, rigors of the job could also see Ember's meltdowns and explosions return, leaving her to once more find a way to control them. After all, just like how these blasts ruined her time at her father's workplace, they could endanger her professional future as she hones her craft. They're all due to pressure and bottled-up emotions, so it's easy to envision the stress of the apprenticeship placing a strain on her, and possibly her relationship. Either way, she's always wanted to unlock new dimensions to her personality, identity and power, so a sequel is ideal for this.
Elemental 2 Can Deal With Rebuilding Element City
One of the things that pushed Ember was how Fire Town still needed to be developed. Compared to other towns in Element City, it wasn't as modern. There were flaws in the design, which saw flooding occur and the near-destruction of her father's Fireplace. A sequel can look at Ember coming back home and using her perfected metallurgy and glassmaking skills to patch holes and upgrade infrastructure.
Ember knows she can make the place just as good as other regions. This speaks to the unity she and Wade (a town inspector) want to foster, uniting various zones. Since Elemental speaks to segregation, classism and elitism, by having them come home to create change, the sequel can lean more into other serious issues outside their romance. Despite their families now being united, the other fire and water clans are still at odds. The earth-tribes are still walking on eggshells, so this is a chance to lean into more nuanced sociopolitics.
Since most places have immigrants, Ember's family can help push the message on the importance of breaking down physical and mental barriers -- especially considering they moved to Element City for a better life. They can even work with Gale Cumulus, Wade's boss and an air elemental who's tasked with ensuring Element City becomes first-world. This would give Ember a job and a higher calling, which she never thought she'd be part of on a professional level. Ultimately, it would also present Gale with the missing piece of the puzzle; she's long been trying to create a utopia in Element City, with a brilliant mind like Ember being the key.
Elemental is now playing in theaters.