We’re only two days away from the Oct. 23 series premiere of ABC’s Once Upon A Time, and today we share an interview with someone who is sure to be one of the series’ most iconic characters – Ginnifer Goodwin, who plays Snow White.
After the Evil Queen’s curse sends everyone to Storybrooke, Ginnifer plays the very different Mary-Margaret Blanchard. She seems calm, is a bit on the meek side, and she also happens to be Henry’s school teacher.
Don’t miss the show on Sunday night! You can find links to our previous Once interviews at the bottom of this page.
Please do not copy this interview onto other websites; instead just place a link to KSiteTV! Questions for Ms. Goodwin are posted in bold; her answers are not.
Henry seems to learn about the fairy tale world from a book that is given to him by Mary-Margaret. Does this imply that she knows what’s really going on?
The book is something that Mary-Margaret has had in her implanted, cursed memory since childhood. It’s a book that the Evil Queen does not know that she has had in her possession.
It’s just a coincidence. Mary-Margaret is very in tune with Henry and has sort of been pulled into his downward spiral. There’s a wonderful scene in the pilot where she articulates that the reason she gave him the book was that she feels it will give him the hope of a happy ending. That things in life, no matter how glum they may seem at the time… sometimes your dreams comes true and they turn out perfectly. So that was her sole motivation in giving him the book.
Mary-Margaret does seem to be aware of a connection between herself and John Doe, who in the Fairy Tale world was Prince Charming. Can you talk about that?
She definitely knows that there is some inexplicable pull to him, in some capacity, but she assumes that it’s just a normal, healthy, human reaction, or an empathy toward someone who has been through such a traumatic experience as John Doe has. But if he does wake up, he probably will not remember. He probably will be cursed with the same amnesia as the rest of us.
Can you talk about her relationship with Emma?
I know that Mary-Margaret very instinctively trusts Emma, and does recognize the inherent chemistry between them. She can’t place the sense of familiarity. She assumes that maybe it’s because this is the first woman in her life who is the right kind of female friend for Mary-Margaret, and she just takes it at that. And I do think that she is Mary-Margaret’s first real friend. But yes. Any sort of maternal instincts are masked by so many things that Mary-Margaret would ever be able to put her finger on.
There seems to be an antagonism between Mary-Margaret and Regina. Can you talk about that?
I think the dynamic between Regina and Mary-Margaret is really fun and challenging and interesting to me, from the outside, because we created Mary-Margaret based on an amalgamation of characterizations we felt that the Evil Queen would want Mary-Margaret to have. And so, their relationship’s really based on Mary-Margaret’s fear of Regina. There are times, because of Emma’s influence, that Mary-Margaret finds the urge to stand up to Regina, but she’s still not at a point where she can follow through. She’s just not strong enough, which is because that’s how the Evil Queen made her.
Are there any fairy tale characters or concepts that you’d eventually like to see on the show?
I keep saying Ariel [from The Little Mermaid], but I’m not sure how we would go about doing that, or if there is a body of water nearby, that that would make any kind of sense. She could live in my bathtub.
Little Mermaid was one of my favorites growing up. I really responded to the original version of the story and the animated feature. I just think that would be fascinating, to stick a mermaid on our show.
Be sure to watch the series premiere of Once Upon A Time on October 23! Here are more treats associated with the series that you may enjoy: Once Upon A Time forum – Once Upon A Time Hub @ KSiteTV – Image Gallery – Steve Pearlman (Producer) Interview – Lana Parrilla (Evil Queen) Interview – Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan) Interview – Josh Dallas (Prince Charming) Interview – Jared Gilmore (Henry) Interview - Raphael Sbarge (Jiminy Cricket/Archie) Interview - First 9 Minutes Of The Pilot – See The Pilot Early (through Sat. 10/22!)
