When the original Mary Poppins came to theaters, it instantly became a feminist classic. As we dive into 1930s London with Mary Poppins Returns, how will we explore the role of women during the Great Depression?

Mary Poppins Returns isn’t a remake — it’s a sequel. Starring Emily Blunt as the iconic titular character, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, and even Meryl Streep as Topsy, it will follow the now grown-up Banks children, Michael and Jane. Michael now has three children himself, and lives with Jane and their housekeeper. According to Disney:

“After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack, uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy.”

Related: Disney unveils first look at Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns

The trouble with sequels is that it’s painfully difficult to balance nostalgia with novelty. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was both loved for its reminiscence and bashed for excessive callbacks to A New Hope. Other franchises have followed suit, and there’s a new wave of live-action remakes of Disney’s animated films. In the face of so many reboots, it’s only natural to question just how innovative Mary Poppins Returns will really be.

The addition of Meryl Streep to the cast also brings a whole new layer of complexity to the making of the sequel. Streep is bound to steal any scene she’s in, so how to ensure that Mary Poppins isn’t outshined by a secondary character? Writers will have to skillfully work to put all the different elements together if they intend to make a story that not only brings us the pleasant nostalgia of our childhoods, but is also unique and memorable for its own sake.

But more than anything, it’s the era of the Great Depression that has potential to bring something fascinating to the screen. Mary Poppins has always been considered a great feminist icon, as an independent, single and strong-willed character, and the film was quite outspoken with its themes of dismantling the patriarchy in 1910 — most notably through Mrs. Banks’ character, an outspoken suffragette who even has a song dedicated to “the cause” featured in the movie, but also through subverting the power dynamics in a home, and challenging the ‘man of the house.’

With the sequel set in the year 1930, the return of Mary Poppins brings new possibilities to the table. While it’s a given that the story will focus mostly on the family dynamics between Jane, Michael, and his children, it’s also an opportunity to feature themes of progress and change in society.

London in the 1930s, still recovering from World War I, had been hit by the devastating effects of the Great Depression. A great part of the turmoil in the aftermath of war was aimed toward the women who had taken the place of men in the industry while the men had been away. Upon the return of the soldiers, they were suddenly pushed away from the very workplaces that had depended on their labor to survive.

By the 1930s, 1/3 of women in Britain worked outside of the home, a significant increase from the years before the war. But only 1/10 of working women were married, and there was active campaigning to ban women from certain lines of work if they were married. In fact, the only jobs women were encouraged to have were in domestic service, while unemployment benefits were much lower than they were for men.

Under fire for ‘taking men’s jobs,’ women were discouraged from working outside the home, and the gender pay gap actually grew until women only received 50% of what their male counterparts did.

As a result, the 1930s were the birth of the British feminist movement for equal pay in civil service, which actually succeeded in taking the matter to Parliament for the first time.

Careers have always been a big part of Mary Poppins: chimney-sweeps, activists, bankers, nannies… all are excellently portrayed through comedy and music, with a healthy dose of social commentary. With the gender pay gap still being a critical issue in today’s society, and one that first started to get attention during the 1930s, this would certainly be a perfect theme to explore in Mary Poppins Returns.

According to the short synopsis we have, it doesn’t seem that Jane is married. Maybe she’s a working woman (and maybe she doesn’t want to get married!). Her story might bring fresh perspective to the life of a single working woman during the Great Depression.

It’s worth noting that Mary Poppins isn’t perfect. As a film released in 1964, it has its own holes and uncomfortable moments — particularly with the implication that Mrs. Banks’ role as a suffragette contradicted her role as a mother. But for its time, it was revolutionary among Disney’s sometimes lukewarm stances, and now the studio has a chance to replicate both the financial and educational success of the film.

It would be amazing if Mary Poppins Returns can touch on what this era meant for women, with the same charm and openness that it did with Mrs. Banks’ role as a suffragette. For many of us, as children watching Mary Poppins for the first time, Mrs. Banks’ scene marked the first time we learned about women’s fight for the right to vote. The sequel is a perfect opportunity to bring more history into the light, and offer a new generation of children a chance to learn about what brought us to where we are today.

Mary Poppins Returns will premiere on December 25, 2018.