Monday , March 18 2024
Once Upon a Time's executive producers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis speak to reporters at this year's Comic-Con

Interview: Talking with the Creators of ‘Once Upon a Time’ About the Land of Untold Stories

I had a chance to speak with Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, showrunners of ABC’s hit series Once Upon a Time during the 2016 Comic-Con. We talked about the introduction of some well-loved characters from Aladdin, the slight return back to the full-season format of seasoonce-upon-a-time s 6ns one and two, and the Land of Untold stories, they’re anxious to explore next season. You’ll find a video of the interview at the end of this article.

The show’s executive producers said that viewers will have to wait a bit for Aladdin and Jaffar to come to the fore. “There are lots of threads dangling,” said Horowitz. Indeed, there is the whole Evil Queen/Regina duality, picking up on the Jekyll/Hyde story. Then there’s poor Belle stuck in Pandora’s Box (for Emilie de Ravin’s maternity leave!). And then we have Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) and how she’ll deal with finally (an not in crisis mode) declaring her love for Killian/Hook (Colin O’Donoghue).

We learned that Cinderella (Jesse Schramm) will be returning to explore her early relationship with Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin). In fact, the entire season, according to Horowitz will be all about the “snowing!”

I asked the showrunners about this Land of Untold Stories–a theme for next season. The concept seems to hold the potential for exploring both the untold stories of the main cast of characters as well as opening up the narrative to a whole new expanse of potential avenues (and not necessarily accompanied by Disney branding).Ā 

Ā ā€œOur characters have untold stories,ā€ Kitsis told me. So we come to a point when our characters start to reveal themselves. Horowitz added, “Some of the characters arenā€™t even aware of their things in their pasts.” It’s an opportunity for them to reflect and look back on their actions.

And now that Emilie de Ravin has had her baby girl, she can come out of the box. But what of Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle)? Horowitz reminds, ” As he says in season one, heā€™s a difficult man to love. We often want to forget that.” And as Rumple reminds us in season five, he loves the life. But, he added, “He also loves Belle more than anything.”

Having another child for Rumple is “somethingĀ heā€™s looking forward to ā€” another chance to do it right.” The fun of the “Rumbelle” is its complete messiness of it. As Horowitz said, “They will have a lot of chaos for the foreseeable future.”

Enjoy the interview, and please share!

About Barbara Barnett

A Jewish mother and (young šŸ™ƒ) grandmother, Barbara Barnett is an author and professional Hazzan (Cantor). A member of the Conservative Movement's Cantors Assembly and the Jewish Renewal movement's clergy association OHALAH, the clergy association of the Jewish Renewal movement. In her other life, she is a critically acclaimed fantasy/science fiction author as well as the author of a non-fiction exploration of the TV series House, M.D. and contributor to the book Spiritual Pregnancy. She Publisher/Executive Editor of Blogcritics, (blogcritics.org).

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