If you missed it, you can still check out our live tweeting from @OnceUponNews during today’s Once Upon a Time panel at PaleyFest 2012. Read a recap of the event here to see what was revealed, and check out some images from the event! (Mild spoilers ahead.)
The Paley panel was great fun (as most of them are), and well attended: actors present were Jennifer Morrison, Josh Dallas, Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle and Raphael Sbarge, and showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, along with executive producer Steve Pearlman.
During the panel, Edward Kitsis shone as he praised the show and its writers – even if he accidentally called them “The writers of Lost“. In fact there were a lot of Lost references, from Smoke Monster jokes to flash sideways references.
They discussed working on the show in cold weather and how drawn in all the actors were to the project, but of more interest, the cast and crew also clarified some plot discrepancies and gave some information about what we can expect. Check out the eight biggest reveals below:
#1: Henry was the only one who aged
Thank you to the audience member who asked this clarifying question, which had been nagging a lot of Once Upon a Time fans (ourselves included): before Emma came to Storybrooke, was Henry the only one who aged? And it turns out that yes, he was! For 28 years, the Storybrooke characters had been frozen in time, but when Regina brought in Henry, he did age normally. However, he didn’t begin to notice until he started reading the storybook and things began to fall into place in his head. Kitsis described it as a, “Hold on a minute!” moment, when Henry realised that he needed to solve the mystery and went to find Emma.
#2: August’s agenda will be revealed this year
While the show sets up a lot of mysteries (and wants to keep the audience saying, “What the hell is going on,” according to Kitsis), Horowitz did confirm that by the end of this year we’ll know who August is, what his agenda is and what he’s doing with Henry’s book. And while they pretty much confirmed that he’s not Henry grown up (a popular theory), Horowitz did say that, “someone’s theory out there is right.” One of our followers did have a pretty excellent theory, but that deserves a post all to itself!
#3: Giancarlo Esposito’s new pilot isn’t something to worry about
The writers were asked whether Giancarlo Esposito’s new pilot will interfere with his work on Once, but said that they’re not worried as a lot of their actors have other work, and they’ve got a definite arc planned for Sidney this year.
#4: Ginnifer Goodwin knows how to break the curse – and maybe we do, too
Not only does Ginnifer know how to break the curse (and she says it made total sense), but Kitsis also revealed that they’ve been dropping hints during the season! Further, they clarified that the reason David and Mary Margaret’s kiss didn’t make them remember was because only Emma can break the curse. So maybe the answer is that Emma sets up a kissing booth in Storybrooke? “If the finale is titled ‘Kissing Booth,’ you’ll know,” Horowitz joked.
#5: Archie/Jiminy will play a more central role in future episodes
While Raphael Sbarge has been sidelined for the last batch of episodes, look forward to more of him both in Storybrooke and in flashbacks! Raphael revealed that Jiminy will begin showing up in other characters’ centrics, and that Archie will have therapy sessions both with David and Mr. Gold! What could Gold want to get off his chest? “Mr Gold goes to Archie because he has no one else to talk to,” Robert Carlyle teased, and described a scene in which Archie promises Gold that what he says is confidential and that, “It’s like a gag clause.” Gold responds, “I like the sound of that.”
#6: The Little Mermaid is a season 2 story
Nothing is set in stone of course, but Kitsis revealed that they are definitely eager to tackle The Little Mermaid story, but it’s more of a season 2 story. They also want to do Rapunzel, and Lana Parrilla joked that she wants her character to turn into Ursula.
#7: A Jamie Dornan return seems more and more likely
This isn’t new information, but Kitsis once again pointed out that while Sheriff Graham is very dead, the Huntsman is “still alive in storybook land, so keep watching!” We don’t think they’d keep bringing this up if we weren’t going to see him at some point, do you?
#8: Tonight’s episode ‘Grumpy’ will reveal how dwarves are born
The audience was treated to a screening of tonight’s episode of Once Upon a Time, and one of the more humorous aspects is the explanation of why there are no female dwarves. We did caution this post with a spoiler alert so we’ll tell you: they hatch from eggs. Yes, really!
Another great moment from the panel was Ginnifer Goodwin comparing Snow White to Mary Margaret. She explained that while Mary Margaret is sabotaging her own life, Snow White is much more assertive and her obstacles are all external. She also said:
Mary is the version of what could have gone wrong if Snow had been repressed her whole life.
Lana Parrilla talked about working with Barbara Hershey when she guest stars as the Queen’s mother, and revealed that the two have a very complicated relationship on screen, but there is one moment when they get to be friendly. Further, this season we’ll learn why the Queen hates snow, and Ginnifer teased that it’s “beautiful” and really sets up their relationship for future seasons.
Robert Carlyle also explained how he worked out the character Rumpelstiltskin:
He’s based on three things: I worked with masks, Italian commedia dell’arte, and the voice of my 6-year-old son.
Other fun things included the actors all revealing what characters they’d want to play aside from their own. Jennifer Morrison said Prince Charming (“I’d get to fight things!), Josh Dallas said Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk or Rumpelstiltskin, Ginnifer Goodwin said Henry and Raphael Sbarge said the Evil Queen. That’d be a fun episode, if they all body-swapped! And finally, a lady in the audience thanked Josh Dallas for curing her 12-year-old granddaughter of Bieber-fever. That was a very sweet moment.
Did you watch the panel? We’ll have the video up for you all to watch when it’s available, but we hope you enjoyed this recap! Finally (because we’re crazy for Once), check out some images from the panel courtesy of the Paley Livestream channel:
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