It’s been quite the journey for Regina Mills on Once Upon a Time. But will she finally get what she’s always wanted in season 5? Will she be the hero?

For four years, Regina has been feared, beloved, and on a journey. Season 4 challenged Regina to summon enough courage to take the steps away from her villainous past and make the effort to be a hero. But can she really rewrite her story? Can she get her happy ending?

While we cannot guarantee Regina’s happiness, we will see a new side of the Evil Queen this season. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Lana Parilla offered a sneak peek into Regina’s transformation in season 5.

“Regina is going to be the hero,” Parilla says. “It’s really her journey of exploring that. It’s an immense amount of responsibility. We’ll see her evolving into this role and we’ll see where she ends up.”

Regina is no spring chicken when it comes to dealing with the urge to answer the call of darkness. After all, she knows the great cost that may arise from too much power at your fingertips. Parilla says, “[Regina] fears that the darkness is going to take over and Emma may never return back to her true self. She’s just worried — and worried for everyone, not just Henry. Everyone’s doomed.”

Executive producer Adam Horowitz adds that it is Regina and Emma’s beau Hook who will play a large role in Emma’s transformation this season. Horowitz says, “We love the notion that two of the people that she’s expectedly and unexpectedly grown closest to over the years, Regina and Hook, are both people who have battled darkness themselves.”

Related: Once Upon a Time season 5 premiere brings love, loss and destiny to the forefront

While Emma may appreciate the help, not everyone in Storybrooke is ready to let old grudges go. “It’s one thing to ask everyone’s forgiveness, it’s another thing to lead people,” executive producer Edward Kitsis says. “We’ve seen Regina on our side helping out the heroes, but she’s going to be thrust into a leadership position in saving the town with a town that, quite honestly, a lot of people are still frightened of her.”

One person who is not confused about where he stands on his feelings about Regina is Robin Hood (Sean Maguire). “There’s no confusion in my head playing him, he loves Regina and only Regina,” Maguire says.

However, he and Regina still have Zelena to deal with as she is pregnant with Robin’s child.

Horowtitz hints that Zelena’s maternal instincts have kicked in, but not to anyone’s delight. “And I’d say pregnancy has changed her, and not necessarily for the better, and if that’s the case, then it’s pretty scary.”

Rebecca Mader remains hopeful that Zelena will find a way to change at the end of her trip over the rainbow. “Hopefully it’ll change her in a positive way, or it’ll help heal her in some way, because Zelena’s had a really rubbish life,” she says.

Regina, Robin and Zelena have some pretty heavy personal issues to sort through this season, but they are not the most pressing obstacle that stands in their way. “Robin, like a lot of our characters you’re going to see, is swept up in a tornado of events that really forces everyone to — not forget about the things they’re dealing with — but have a whole new circumstance and crisis to deal with,” Horowitz says.

If you are not excited already, take a cue from Sean Maguire who says, “This season is our Empire Strikes Back, our dark chapter where it’s going to be intriguing and it’s going to be tough, but I think it’s going to be really good storytelling.”

Once Upon a Time season 5, episode 1, “The Dark Swan,” airs Sunday, September 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.