The Originals‘ Sebastian Roche has been cast in the role of King Stefan for Once Upon a Time‘s fourth season.

Roche will be joining our friends over at ABC for a guest-star role as King Stefan, Aurora’s father, who has a complicated past with Maleficent. This addition makes sense, seeing as Maleficent will play a huge role in the latter half of the season. Plus, it was only a matter of time until we met King Stefan, since we’ve already been introduced to Aurora and Phillip.

Roche, as you may or may not know, is currently playing Mikael in the CW series The Originals. You may also know him from his previous work on Supernatural and Fringe.

King Stefan is slated to appear on the show some time in March, which means we won’t have to wait too long until we see Aurora’s dad, given that Once Upon a Time returns March 1.

Are you excited to see King Stefan on ‘Once Upon a Time’?

With so many new characters coming on to Once Upon a Time this next half of the season, like Poseidon, Cruella, Maleficent and Ursula, will you be anticipating King Stefan’s appearance with glee or with dread? Let us know in the comments below!