The Once Upon a Time cast arrived in San Diego to share a few details about season 4 and to get us all excited for the twists and turns ahead.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
When the producers of the show sit down in front of you, you know you’ve finally hit the jackpot, as they are the ones that know anything and everything. So, the first question was all about why Frozen on Once Upon a Time and why right now, and they gave us the answer we expected, “We saw Frozen, we were inspired, the room talked about it, we said, ‘Wow that would be a good fit for our show,’ and ‘Would that be a good fit for our show?'” Naturally, we all know why they chose Frozen, so were definitely weren’t surprised.
As far as where else the show might go, they quickly dismissed the Star Wars suggestion as Edward said, “Chewbacca will stay a stuffed animal on my couch, not on my show.” The discussion led on to what other worlds could possibly be included in the future and they reminded us that they have masterfully set up many different options for themselves. Adam reminded us, “In the pilot, when the book flips open you see Wizard of Oz in there, and you see Peter Pan. So, we’d always wanted to go to those worlds, and you know, we’re always excited to kinda find worlds that can fit into our show.” Edward went on to joke, “And that’s why when the book flipped it showed so many different stories, so that we knew once we did all these things people would be like, ‘They never set that up.’ and we could go, ‘Yes we did. Right here.'”
The last, and possibly most important part of the conversation revolved around how Anna and Elsa will fit into the world of Storybrooke. We asked if Anna and Elsa had history with any characters besides Rumpelstiltskin, which Adam answered with a definitive “Yes,” before Edward went on to elaborate with, “We are not trying to do a sequel to Frozen, we are bringing on an Elsa into the Once universe, so for us, you have a character like Anna, who never gives up no matter what someone tells her, who always sees the good in people, what happens when she meets Rumpelstiltskin, who is the devil himself. And that was kind of the things that started to excite us. What happens when those two get together?”
A little bonus fact mined from our time with Adam and Eddy is that Georgina Haig, who will be playing Elsa this season, was camping on her honeymoon when she got the call to audition for the part.
Jared Gilmore
Henry has had an interesting ride since the midseason finale last year. He spent the majority of it in the dark as to what was really going on in Storybrooke, and when he finally did get his memories back, he lost his father. Jared thinks Henry will come out swinging in Once Upon a Time season 4 though. “This year I think Henry has learned a lot from this journey, so he can really use all things he learned while in Neverland, and also New York, to his advantage.”
When asked which character he wishes Henry spent more time with, Jared answered, “I think it would be really interesting to see Henry spend more time with Captain Hook.” We definitely agree. Hook knew Baelfire as well as anyone, and it would be nice to see Henry and Hook bond a bit, especially if that bonding could come in the form of remembering Neal and keeping Henry’s few memories alive.
Lana Parilla
Just when she thought she was going to get a taste of what happily ever after could be, it was unfortunately ripped away from her. It’s safe to say that we can expect Regina to come out swinging against Marian. Lana Parilla summed it up best when she reminded us, “She is heartbroken. It’s not the first time that she felt that. And we saw what happened the last time her heart was broken.” She went on to say that she doesn’t know what is ultimately in store for Regina this season because she likes to be surprised with the character’s arc just like us. She commented, “I don’t know if she’s gonna come back as the full blown evil queen that we all love, but there’s a good chance of that.”
Actors always love an opportunity to play the bad guy for a change, but what about when your character starts off as the bad guy? Do you just find the fun in playing the bad guy, or is it more fun to try and see the good in a rough character? Well, Lana let us in on her thoughts on the matter. “I see her as a hero. Just because you’ve made mistakes or done wrong things doesn’t mean there’s no hope for you”
Josh Dallas
In perhaps our best chat of the day, Josh Dallas had the new fatherly glow about him. He was positively brimming with excitement for both himself and his character’s newest challenge: parenting. When asked how fatherhood was agreeing with David he replied, “I think it really agrees with him. this is the first chance that Snow and David have to be parents.” He went on to say, “They’re gonna do the best they can to be the best parents they can and protect that baby.”
We then moved onto talking about what his character will be up to this season, and were treated to a special bit of info. We will be getting more of Charming’s backstory this season, including a very special friendship with a character we wouldn’t necessarily expect. “What’s interesting about this season already, even though we’re only on the second episode, we’re gonna see a friendship that Charming had in his past, a really important friendship to him, with a character that you might not necessarily think of that belongs with Charming, but it changes the whole course of his life, literally.”
When you pair that interesting bit with the new characters hitting the show, we can’t wait to see whether Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, or maybe even Will Scarlett could be that mysterious friend from his past? Only time and season 4 will tell, but we can’t wait to find out.