We’re six days away from the 100th episode of Once Upon A Time, titled “Souls of the Departed,” and today, our spotlight falls on the actress who plays the show’s “savior” – Jennifer Morrison, who plays the fan-favorite character Emma Swan.
You can see video of the interview below; if a transcription is more your thing, you can see that underneath. Once Upon A Time “Souls of the Departed” airs Sunday, March 6 on ABC – be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to see when new interviews pop up!
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: When we last left Emma, she now needs to find Hook, and she’s bringing everyone with her. How successful do you think or hope she will be?
JENNIFER MORRISON: Emma is definitely determined to get Hook back from the Underworld and to save him. I think she feels not only just personally, she knows she loves him and she wants to be with him, but she wants to make it up to him; the sacrifices that he made to be able to save everybody. So she’s desperate to save him.
Her parents (Snow and Charming) always managed to be able to find each other, and at the end of the last mini-season, she said “I will always find you.” Do you think that’s something that she’s picked up from her parents, that might have given her more hope?
I think, for sure. Inevitably, finding your parents has to impact you. It has to impact your sense of history, and where you came from, and how you feel about yourself, and I think now that she’s found them and they’ve become a part of her life, that she’s definitely impacted by the way that they see life, and the way that they believe in things, so even if it’s slowly but surely, it’s definitely becoming a part of her in a way that it wasn’t before.
Thinking back to all the way in the first season, did you ever expect for Emma and Regina to be friends?
You know, it’s funny. I did and I didn’t. I didn’t because they did seem to be in so much conflict, but at the same time, she was the adoptive mother of Henry, and Emma was the birth mother of Henry, and so somewhere, deep down, I thought at some point, these two women have to work this out, because they both care too much about this child to not work it out.
What do you think of how that friendship has come together, especially in terms of Henry?
I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful to see two women be true friends on television; especially two strong women. So often, we see what we saw in the first season, which is that they’re fighting, and they don’t get along, and then it’s a problem. And so, for them to have worked through that and now see eye to eye, and both really want the best for Henry, and actually be true friends who have each other’s backs and understand each other… I think it’s been a really fun friendship to explore.
What are you most excited for fans to see in Episode 100?
I think all of the people we get to bring back, now that we’re in the Underworld! It’s just been so fun for us to get to work with these actors again, and to revisit some of these storylines, and hopefully the audience will be able to enjoy that as well.
And on that note: Will we ever see Sheriff Graham again?
Oh, gosh. I think you’d have to ask Jamie Dornan if his schedule’s ever gonna open up. [Laughs]
