Bad news for Once Upon a Time fans hoping that Sinqua Walls will reprise his role as Sir Lancelot in season 3: ABC has shot down the rumours.

Once Upon a Time season 3 will see the return of several fan-favourite fairytale characters, presumably including Prince Phillip (Julian Morris), Aurora (Sarah Bolger) and Mulan (Jamie Chung).

But it doesn’t look like Sinqua Walls will be back as Sir Lancelot, the iconic figure from the Arthurian Legends who first appeared in season 2 of the popular fairytale drama.

In a recent interview with Hollywood Life, the actor stated that he would be reprising his role in Once Upon a Time season 3, but now it looks like someone got their wires crossed somewhere.

Once Upon a Fan reports that ABC issued a statement only hours after the interview went live, saying that, “There are no plans to bring back Lancelot at this time.”

Although Lancelot appeared to have been killed off by Cora in season 2, fans were hopeful that his death (which was never shown on screen) would be a ruse, making it possible for him to return in present day.

And even if the character is gone, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t appear in flashbacks – by introducing Lancelot, the writers opened up for the possibility of having other characters from the legends appear, such as King Arthur, Queen Guinvere, and Merlin.

Of course they can still turn up, even if Lancelot doesn’t. And considering how many main characters the show is currently juggling (so many that they didn’t have space for Ruby), maybe that particular story can be saved for future seasons.

Are you disappointed that it looks like we won’t see Lancelot back for a while?

Once Upon a Time returns later this year, airing Sunday nights at 8/7c on ABC. The spinoff series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, will premiere this fall.