Once Upon a Time has charged right ahead with its reboot season, introducing new characters, plots and leaving most of the old story behind. As the show heads into a relatively long hiatus the aggressive newness of the season has started to fade. Rebecca Mader’s Zelena has returned to the show with (now adult) daughter Robin in tow. Regina, meanwhile, has almost replaced Henry as the series lead. Evidently this mixture of the old with the new is the start of a trend for Once Upon a Time.
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In an interview with TV Guide, Executive Producer Edward Kitsis talked about the possibility of Snow and Charming coming back. “We remain very, very close with [Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin]. They are two of our dearest friends,” Kitsis explained. “I think the fun thing about Once Upon a Time is people can come in and out even when they’re dead, meaning that the world is always open for people to return. Whether it will be this year or not, we’re not sure yet. I definitely think we’ll see some familiar faces in the second half of the season.”
In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kitsis was open about the fact that the new season hasn’t been entirely successful. There’s been some things in the first half he feels didn’t work particularly well but that will change in the second half. Part of those changes will be bringing in old faces.
“There are things that we think we can get better at, and I feel like, every episode, you’re seeing that. So every episode from the very first one is us adjusting toward the things we think work,” the co-showrunner said. “In the second half of the season, we continue to balance between the characters we knew and the new characters, especially the ones that we feel like people are really gravitating toward.”
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Taking both comments together, it seems like Snow and Charming don’t appear to be in the cards for season 7 — especially since Kitsis mentions that dead characters might be coming back and, as far we know, neither Snow and Charming are dead. In fact, given the very weird way time has worked in season 7, Snow and Charming probably haven’t aged much even though their great-granddaughter is 8 years old.
The possibility of Belle reappearing, though, seems strong. She is the most significant deceased character currently on the show. It would also be rather odd, given his connection to Rumple and the character’s current storyline, if Gideon didn’t appear in Hyperion Heights sometime soon.
At the very least, the fact that Kitsis recognizes that Once Upon a Time season 7 hasn’t been flawless is encouraging. Even if the familiar faces the show focuses on in the second half are ones that have already been re-introduced, it does sound like the second half of season 7 will keep up the show’s creative renaissance.
But what do you think? Who do you hope to see again in Once Upon a Time season 7? Who should reappear? What do you make of Kitsis mentioning dead characters coming back?
Once Upon a Time season 7 returns on March 2 at 8/7c on ABC. Want more news? Like our OUAT Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
