'Once Upon a Time' Producers Tease What's Ahead

The winter finale of Once Upon A Time saw the Snow Queen on ice, the safe return of Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff to Arendelle, and the end of the ABC fairy tale’s foray into Frozen. However, the fine citizens of Storybrooke won’t be celebrating a happy ending for long. When OUAT returns Sunday, new threats (along with one particularly stubborn old one) will be revealed by the thaw.

“The arrival of these villains has a real profound effect on our core characters, [especially] Snow and Charming, and that is something we really dive into in the next few episodes,” executive producer Adam Horowitz said at a media preview of the first two episodes — “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Unforgiven” — of Season 4’s spring half. “Using all kinds of fun toys at our disposal, the goal is to deepen who they are, show another layer, and hopefully show a bit of the why they became who they are, making them more understandable… flesh and blood real people.”

And it isn’t just the new big bads coming to town that will affect our hometown heroes. Executive producer Edward Kitsis was quick to add that the deported Dark One still poses a threat: “You have a man whose lost everything and he is going to do his Rumple-est to get it all back. The Queens of Darkness think they’re working with Rumple, but we all realize you work for Rumple.”

Kitsis continued that as secrets are revealed and the season unravels, characters may have a change of heart. Some might even switch what side they’re on. “For the last number of seasons, we’ve seen a lot of our villains go on a redemption arc. They start really bad and then try to fight those urges and be their better selves to varying degrees of success,” Horowitz teased. “What we wanted to do was start to explore that idea with our heroes as well. We have seeded things in throughout [to show] it is not just black and white, hero or villain.”

If you want to remain in the dark about the Dark One’s plan, new characters, and Season 4 part two plot points, look away now. Otherwise, read on for more spoilers:

Axis of Evil

As seen in the last episode, Rumple (Robert Carlyle) had past dealings with a particularly pernicious posse of evildoers and after being thrown out of town, he headed to Manhattan to reconnect with the bane of one little mermaid’s existence — Ursula (Merrin Dungey). In the premiere Sunday, the duo also manages to hook up with another past associate left without magic in the real world: Cruella De Vil (Dracula’s Victoria Smurfit). He promises that if they pool their resources they can get powers back and happy endings. Don’t expect the puppy-napper of your childhood. Kitsis explained, “We re‑imagined Cruella. We wanted her to be Zelda Fitzgerald, more jazz age than ’50s England. There’s a sass to her. And we thought she should have a power — she can speak to animals like Dr. Dolittle, but in a more cruel way — so that she feels a part of the show. The origin of that power is coming up soon.”

It won’t be long before the gang is all back together either. “We always wanted to get back to Maleficent [Kristin Bauer van Straten], which is why we never fully killed her. What we wanted was for Gold to take the lesson of the heroes who always work together,” Kitsis said. “We loved the idea of the team of evil and our wish list of who we wanted to write these three.” Horowitz added, “You’ll see there’s a connection between them and there’s an upcoming episode where all the pieces on the chess board are laid out.”

Good Girl Gone Bad

As previously mentioned, the arrival of the queens of darkness in the hidden hamlet really upsets Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas). Just as the unholy trinity has history together, it appears the royal couple has had more dealings with them than they would like to admit and they are definitely not proud of those actions. Attempts to keep their shameful past a secret by any means necessary, including enlisting the help of a former enemy and lying to their daughter Emma (Jennifer Morrison), will have dangerous ramifications both immediately and throughout the rest of the year. Discovering the truth might be the straw that sends the savior to the dark side as suggested in the promo that aired during the Oscars. “One of the big themes we want to deal with is what makes someone a hero and what makes someone a villain,” said Horowitz. “Emma has spent a long time being told she’s a savior and now she is going to have to face that it’s not as black and white as that. All of our characters are going to be wrestling with this idea of good and evil, not just in terms of what they are facing as an external threat but internally within themselves.”

But just how far down the evil rabbit hole are the creators willing to let Emma fall? “Enough, but not enough that it’s bleak and you go, ‘What did they do to Once Upon A Time? That’s the icky show now.’ We want to explore if you have done a bad thing, can you come back from it? Can you become the person you want to be even if you didn’t start out that way and vice versa,” said Kitsis before Horowitz chimed in with, “It’s less about what the powers are than how they’re used.”

Storybrooke’s Most Wanted
All of the villains, reformed or not, appear to want the same thing — happy endings — and all of their strategies involve finding the illusive Author. The EPs would not clarify if the Sorcerer and the Author were the same person, but confirmed that we will meet him/her/it before the finale and that the search will involve the return of August in some capacity. Kitsis remained cryptic, “I would say this, ‘If you’re searching for the Author, you’re gonna check with the guy who rode into town with a typewriter.”

Something’s Fishy

Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Emma’s relationship will suffer another setback when Sheriff Swan deduces that Ursula and her boyfriend go way back and he refuses to tell her what went down. He will claim their paths simply crossed when he was sailing the seven seas and she ruled the deep, but an upcoming episode will contain flashbacks that reveal “what he did to her. It is not sexual. It is far worse,” said Kitsis. “What would be worse than having your heart broken, having your soul crushed. You’re going to see the origin of Ursula. We all know Hook is about 385 years old and we meet Ursula around 18-19. Emma’s about to find out some really bad information.”

Vintage Villain
Writers dug deep in the Disney canon for a new monster to threaten Storybrooke’s property values. The gang will face a Fantasia character with help from unexpected sources.

Ain’t No Gold Digger

In the winter finale, Belle finally got wise to Rumple’s wicked ways and booted him across the town’s invisible border. “She was like, it’s enough. At a certain point, you have to stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. You have to say, ‘Change or f–k off.’ We love that strength from Belle,” Kitsis said. Further proof that she has moved on from that toxic coupling? She will lock lips with a resident we’ve already met and Kitsis couldn’t be more thrilled with the progress. “Any time you have your heart broken, you look for a way to smile again and we love her moving on.”

But even though he has continually picked power over love, the beast is not ready to let go of his beauty, especially after he learns of her budding romance. “He doesn’t disappear,” Horowitz teased. “Actually, that activates him and starts him on a new quest that he’s really energized about.” Kitsis added. “I would say he has his work cut out.”

Once Upon a Time returns Sunday, March 1 at 8 p.m. on ABC.