We might not see much of David Anders’ Dr. Whale in Once Upon a Time season 4 due to his involvement with iZombie.

This fall, recurring Once Upon a Time stars David Anders (Dr. Whale) and Rose McIver (Tinker Bell) will both be starring in the new CW drama iZombie.

McIver has landed the lead role in the series; she’ll be playing a college med student who happens to be a zombie, and takes a job in a coroner’s office to have easy access to brains. Anders will be playing one of her fellow zombies, and his character will become a villain of sorts over the course of the first season.

iZombie and Once Upon a Time are both filmed in Vancouver, which means that while the shows are on two different networks, actor crossovers are not totally impossible.

However, it might be difficult to get around the actors’ busy schedules, such as the case was with Meghan Ory (Red) when she was first cast on (the now cancelled) Intelligence.

Once Upon a Time creator Edward Kitsis tells TV Line that iZombie creator Rob Thomas is a good friend of the Once creative team, and, “We would love to drag [David] across town” for a guest appearance.

However, Kitsis goes on to reveal that Anders is not scheduled to appear in the first batch of season 4 episodes – which most likely means the first six episodes of the season.

Related: Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 1 stills released

TV Line adds that Whale gets a shout-out in an early season 4 episode, but of course it would always be better to see the reformed Doctor Frankenstein appear in the… er, flesh.

Whale was last seen delivering Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin)’s baby. With no immediate medical emergencies imminent (unless you count frost bite), his absence from Once Upon a Time season 4 probably won’t be felt too much.

However, isn’t he due for another flashback episode soon? Dr. Whale has been a subtle part of the show since the very beginning, and we always appreciate the show taking the time to go back and develop some of these minor side characters.

Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 1 “A Tale of Two Sisters,” airs Sunday, September 28 at 8/7c on ABC.