Storybrooke is about to thaw from their Frozen encounter, but what is next for Once Upon a Time season 4? Let us introduce the Queens of Darkness!
Cruella De Vil, Ursula, and Maleficient walk into a bar. It sounds like the beginning of some twisted fairy tale joke, but for Once Upon a Time it is anything but a punchline. This Sunday viewers will bid farewell to the characters from Frozen and say hello to three more classic villains. But how do you choose which characters to introduce when you have so many to choose from?
“Well, we have a giant dartboard,” creator Adam Horowitz teases in an interview with EW. He continues, “We have a lot of characters that we want to explore and have been on our wish list ever since the first couple of episodes in season 1. As we developed each season, we looked at who fits into our world, who fits into our mythology, how can we continue to build that out and what characters are the most fun to do that.”
Speaking of the Disney rights, what about a nod to Star Wars beyond Princess Leia making it into King Midas’ ball? “As far as Star Wars goes, there are things that would fit into the world of our show, but Star Wars is not something we want to bring into the world of our show. Frozen was a different kind of thing. It felt like a more natural fit into our mythology, which is why we approached the company,” Horowitz says. Kitsis adds, “We’d love to have Darth Vader and Jabba and turn Granny’s into the Cantina. I think our audience likes the fairy tales. Although we love Star Wars, I’m not sure it’s our show.”
But let’s focus on what will be happening in season 4, The Queens of Darkness! How do you get to the dream team of Cruella, Ursula, and Maleficent (whose makeover takes a page from Angelina Jolie in Disney’s Maleficent movie) together?
“For this one, we saw in the first half of the season that Regina (Lana Parrilla) was really questioning whether or not villains could get happy endings. So we knew we wanted the second half to be villains in search of their happy endings. We always wanted to bring Maleficent back. We thought, “What is the greatest team of evil we could gather to go up against?” Ursula we teased in the Ariel (Joanna Garcia Swisher) episode last year, and then Cruella, for a while, we just always wanted to bring her on the show and couldn’t figure out how because in the movie, she was kind of ’50s. You always want to put your twist on it. For us, Cruella just fit into this trio of terror,” says Edward Kitsis.
While they are teaming up for a seemingly noble cause, Regina’s endgame is the only one we are actually aware of. So what does that mean for the happy endings of the other villains?
“Happy ending doesn’t necessarily equal redemption, because happy endings are in the eye of the beholder.” Kitsis continues, “Yeah, it’s what makes you happy. For instance, if watching two beloved heroes die makes you happy, well then your happy ending is probably different than the two heroes who want to see the villain die.”
But you can expect a change from the typical villainous agenda teases, Kitsis, “You have three leaders who all want to lead. Of course, only one can. For us, what’s interesting is watching villains take a page from the hero playbook. Heroes always work together and never put their ego first. Villains so often put their ego first and lose. These are smarter villains coming back to correct the mistakes from their past.”
But how do you get a character from a modern day setting into Storybrooke when she obviously did not originate in the Enchanted Forest? “We’re kind of taking some liberty there. We’re going to realize that our Cruella may have originated from the Enchanted Forest, and we may find out she has some magic of her own. She’s part villain, part Zelda Fitzgerald. There’s something glamorous and jazz age, but something very deadly about her as well,” says Kitsis.
As for Ursula and Maleficent, their resurgence will have their moments with Regina. Ursula is making her first appearance in the flesh, after being voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown in season 3, and the team says they plan to “explore this Ursula mythology in our show and explore a back story of who she is and what Ursula is all about.”
Meleficent’s origin will stray from the latest Disney movie. Kitsis says, “Definitely nods to the classic. As Adam said, we introduced her in episode 2, so we had already been thinking about her on our own. So like Frozen, we’d stick more towards the movie. This is a case where this half of the season is going to be much more of the Once twist on all of them.” Horowitz continues, “One of the things we established very early on with Maleficent in season 2 was that she and Regina had a relationship, so that’s a thread we intend to explore.”
The creators comment there will be more Aurora to come, but Mulan is taking a break from the show for the moment. Both hope to reintroduce her in the future.
But enough about the new ladies, what about Regina? The mission for her happy ending sparks the entire second story arc for season 4. Kitsis comments, “I would say that the second half of the season, we’re really going to test Regina in a way she’s never been tested before. She’s going to have her hands full. Dragons and tentacles and Dalmatians.”
If you though Regina and Emma were living separate lives, think again! “The second half of the season is going to be much more psychological than magic versus magic. There’s going to be a lot of agendas at play and mystery. Regina and Emma are going to be working together to try and defeat these three,” says Kitsis.
Our sentiments match Horowitz final comment perfectly, “They’re great together.”
We’ll leave you with one last fun tidbit! Cruella’s car cost more than Sven!
Be sure to catch Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 11, (mid-season finale) “Heroes and Villains,” Sunday, December 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
Source: EW
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