Once Upon a Time season 3 will see the Charmings off to Neverland to rescue Henry from evil Peter Pan. Showrunners Horowitz and Kitsis tease what we can expect when the show returns.

The Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Ed Kitsis recently attended the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas to tease the upcoming Once Upon a Time season 3.

E! Online reports from the event, where Horowitz emphasises the main purpose of the show: to explore its main characters.

“The show is a messed-up family show at its core,” Horowitz says. Kitsis adds, “How are they all going to influence each other? Emma has magic and some people on that boat wield magic, but they’re not good influences. How are they going to work together? How are they going to get along?”

This, in the showrunners’ own words, makes the extended Charming family, “the dysfunctional Avengers.”

They also tease a potential Emma/Hook romance! “It’s fun for us to have Emma on that ship with someone as handsome as Hook thinking the person she truly loves [Neal] is dead, while he’s trying to get back to her,” Kitsis says.

One potentially huge spoiler revealed at the festival is that the shadowy wraith figure might not be the actual Peter Pan – although Peter is definitely the villain.

Kitsis promises that, “we have not seen Peter Pan yet,” and adds that they are in the process of casting him.

Further, TV Guide has an interview with the showrunners in which they reveal a bit more about what will happen to the main characters aboard the Jolly Roger.

Each character will need to channel their “core character” on this journey, Kitsis explains. “Snow needs to be Bandit Snow, the Snow we saw who wielded the sword in the beginning,” he says. “Emma is going to need to be the savior. Rumplestiltskin is going to have to be the dark one. Prince Charming needs to be Prince Charming right now.”

We can also look forward to more exploration of Emma’s character. “In season 3, you’re going to see Emma questioning why she has magic, what does it mean to be the savior and what about her happy ending? Or is her job just to make sure everyone else has one?” Kitsis asks.Are you excited for Once Upon a Time season 3 to premiere in the fall?