The ABC fantasy series Once Upon A Time returns with new episodes this Sunday, March 5, and earlier this week, KSiteTV spoke with Executive Producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis about the midseason opener, “Tougher Than The Rest,” about the midseason premiere and beyond.
The midseason opener sees Emma and Regina in a “Wish Realm” populated with some familiar faces, some of whom are quite different than the characters we once knew. Among those characters that we’ll see is “Robin of Locksley” as played by a returning Sean Maguire, which definitely stirs up some feelings in Regina.
You can read the interview below.
ADAM HOROWITZ: I think it makes her feel a whole mixture of emotions. Confusion, shock, heartbreak, hope… all wrapped up in one, because she doesn’t quite understand what this means and what it can mean for her, and that becomes one of the questions of the second half of the season.
Does she initially see it as a chance to get closure with Robin?
EDWARD KITSIS: I think she does, and I think that’s kind of the reason that she wanted [to talk to him for some answers]. But it’s not the same person, so it’s hard to get closure from someone who just looks like the person you’re trying to get closure from, and I think those are some of the things that she’s going to be dealing with this second half [of the season].
Can you talk about some of the other characters that we might see in the “wish realm,” and does the “wish realm” have a name?
EK: Right now it’s Wish Realm, or Alternate Universe. Wish Realm is the one we’ve called it; we never really gave it a name, because it really is an alternate Enchanted Forest.
AH: The thing about Wish Realm is that it’s not just an alternate timeline; it’s something different than that. It’s very much a “be careful what you wish for” realm, which would probably be a more appropriate title. It started with this wish that Emma had never been The Savior, and what it turned into is worse-case scenarios of what happens if you want some part of yourself taken away. It’s not an alternate history so much as it is teaching a lesson.
EK: I think also as far as who we’re going to see, we are going to definitely see some fun people in the Wish Realm while we’re there.
EK: I think that they get along fine. I think that Emma is very sensitive to Regina seeing Robin or what appears to be Robin, and I think Regina is also very sensitive to the fact that Emma has been prophecized to die. The pilot started out with the two of them at each other’s throats, and six years later, they’ve really come together as friends. We see that Regina and Emma and Snow and Charming and Henry, they’ve all formed this core team, and I think that they all support and give each other strength.
EK: Yeah. It’s a pretty heavy-handed metaphor, but she felt like the Ugly Duckling, and we felt like after six seasons of the show, this was the episode show to show that she’s going to make her own fate while prophecized to die, this was a time to watch her become the Swan. And even if she’s already been in it, it is in this that she really embraces it and understands it.
EK: It is in a certain way. What we can tell you about Gideon is that we are very excited. Why is Gideon doing the things he’s doing, and all of the questions the audience has, is exactly what we want them to be asking, and we’re going to be answering a lot of them in two particular flashbacks. One is Gideon’s; we’re going to see his entire life going from baby to 28 year old in one episode, and we’re going to see the Black Fairy’s origin story.
How long will we have to wait before we see a confrontation Emma and Gideon?
EK: We will have to wait until Sunday, and then we’ll have to see what happens after that.
EK: I think that right now, they are just panicked like any parent, when you have a child who seems to be hurting and you don’t understand why or how. And so, in a lot of ways, I feel like this has been the most unifying thing for Rumple and Belle in a long time.
There is a Once Upon A Time musical episode coming. Can you tease or talk about that at all?
AH: It’s something that’s been in the planning for a long time. We sat down with these two composers, Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner, who are super-talented guys who are fans of the show and have some great ideas. It’s an incredibly fun collaboration, and what we have cooked up is an episode that is not a standalone episode, it’s not outside of our continuity, but rather, it’s an integral part of the story we’re telling, and many of the different story strands that have been growing over the course of the season will reach a boiling point in the musical. It deals with many different things that have been a big part of leading us to our season finale.
Will there be any familiar Disney songs, or is this all new compositions?
AH: They’re all original songs. We just recorded some of them with the cast in the last week or so, and we’re very excited for everyone to see it.
Is it different approaching this batch of episodes, not knowing for sure what the plan is for ABC and Season 7?
AH: Yes and no. We’ve always approached the end of the season [the same way] – we’ve rarely known for sure what the future of the show would be. So we’re approaching it the same way. We are wrapping up the stories of this season, we have some big ideas and some big shake-ups that we want to do, and we have some big plans for our characters going forward, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to do Season 7 and keep telling our story.
Are there some returning characters that you’re particularly excited to see again?
EK: This Sunday, I’m excited for them to see what Hook looks like [in the Wish Realm].
AH: I’m just excited for more digging into the lives of our core characters, from Snow and Charming and more of their back stories, to Emma, and seeing more of young Emma — not just what you see this Sunday, but beyond that. I think that there’s a lot of really emotional stuff for all of them that they’re all going to face in the second half of this season.
EK: I’m excited for a lot of them. There’s a great Rumple story coming up with him and Bae in the early days. I’m excited for people to see the Black Fairy origin story. There’s also a really fun flashback to Storybrooke during the time of the curse that has got that real Season 1 vibe, and I think that’s a lot of fun.
Do you have any final thoughts to say to the fans about this latter half of the season?
AH: We are very thankful for the fans who have watched so far. There’s a lot of stuff with their favorite characters and ours.
EK: We think there’s a lot of really, really big things that they’ve either been wondering about or waiting for happening in this second half, and we’re excited to finally show them.
Once Upon A Time returns March 5 on ABC. Preview images for the midseason opener can be found below.
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ONCE UPON A TIME - "Tougher Than the Rest" - With Snow still asleep in Storybrooke, David and Hook race to stop Gideon before he can confront Emma. Gideon makes a startling confession to Belle and Gold about his whereabouts while he was missing. Meanwhile, Regina struggles with the realization that everyone, perhaps even Robin, is better off in the alternate world where the Evil Queen was defeated. And when Emma inspires a familiar face to help her and Regina return home she discovers the power to change her fate, on "Once Upon a Time," SUNDAY, MARCH 5 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Jack Rowand)LANA PARRILLA, JENNIFER MORRISON
2 Comments
Great Interview!! Thanks! The questions were awesome!
Thanks for interview!