Once Upon a Time has nabbed Charmed star Rose McGowan to play a character we already know, in a very intriguing flashback.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that McGowan, who genre fans will probably remember from Charmed (where she played the fourth sister Paige), will be guest starring on Once Upon a Time.

She has been cast as a young Cora, and that’s damn near perfect casting – we can definitely see the resemblance to Barbara Hershey!

Her appearance will happen in the second half of season 2, for it is being called an “origin episode” for the evil queen’s even more evil mother.

This of course has a lot of potential for revealing huge secrets about the circumstances surrounding Regina’s birth, as well as the exact terms of the deal she made with Rumpelstiltskin in order to make sure she (a miller’s daughter) got to marry a king.

What do you think the reason for this flashback is? Is Cora perhaps going to have a big confrontation with Rumpel? And where will Regina’s loyalties lie, if this does happen? Will she reconcile with her mother like Cora hopes? Or will she believe her to be too great of a threat to Henry, and side with Rumpelstiltskin?

Once Upon a Time returns January 6, 2013 with “The Cricket Game.”