Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Captain Hook and Jack and the Beanstalk are coming to Season 2 of “Once Upon A Time,” creators revealed during Comic-Con International.
Lana Parrilla, left, plays Mayor Regina Mills, and David Anders plays Dr. Whale in “Once Upon a Time.” (David Gray / ABC)
The new season will also reveal the identity of Henry’s father, what happened to Rumplestiltskin’s son Baelfire, and the fairy tale alter-ego for mysterious Dr. Whale, the series creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis told their panel audience of roughly 4,000 in Ballroom 20 at the San Diego Convention Center on Friday.
Kitsis and Horowitz were joined on the panel by Lana Parrilla (the Evil Queen), Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White), Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan), Emilie de Ravin (Belle), Meghan Ory (Red Riding Hood) and Josh Dallas (Prince Charming).
ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” has become a smash hit, drawing an enthusiastic audience despite its small budget and unconventional story line. The show is set in the fictional town of Storybrooke, where the residents are fairy-tale characters who don’t remember their true identities after being cursed by the Evil Queen, now Storybrooke’s Mayor Regina Mills. Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, moves to Storybrooke after her biological son Henry Mills (Jared Gilmore), given up for adoption at birth, finds her and tells her she is the key to breaking the curse.
Each episode is comprised of Storybrooke conflicts between Regina, Emma and others, interspersed with flashbacks to characters’ pasts, revealing their fairy-tale counterparts. Throughout the show’s first season, fans took to Twitter and wikis, speculating about the true identities of Storybrooke residents. Fans also took sides on Twitter: Parrilla’s followers call themselves the “Evil Regals” and Goodwin’s go by “The Fairest.”
Ginnifer Goodwin, left, as Snow White and Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen in “Once Upon a Time.” (Jack Rowand / ABC)
Season 1 ended with a curse-breaking kiss and an ominous purple cloud of magic entering the world. Though characters suddenly remembered their fairy-tale pasts, they did not magically revert to their former identities — a twist that surprised many fans.
Kitsis and Horowitz said that Season 2 will follow characters as they grapple with their identities in light of their recovered memories.
“One of the things that we do explore is what does it mean that they spent all these cursed years as those characters,” Horowitz said. “We’re not completely deleting that.”
“There’s a lot of sorting out to do,” Kitsis added.
The idea presents a unique challenge for the actors, many of whom essentially played two different characters up until now; Goodwin, whose Snow White is a daring adventurer and whose Mary Margaret is a soft-spoken schoolteacher, said the most difficult part of the new season will be “melding these two characters together.”
Kitsis and Horowitz said they are excited to bring in new characters — including Mulan, Aurora and Jack and the Beanstalk — early in the upcoming season. They also previewed some footage showing Captain Hook breaking into Mr. Gold’s antique store and reclaiming his namesake.
Robert Carlyle, left, as Rumplestiltskin and Dylan Schmid as his son Baelfire in an episode of “Once Upon a Time.” (Jack Rowand / ABC)
They also promised to reveal more about several existing characters, including the fairy-tale counterpart of mysterious Dr. Whale (David Anders), the fate of Rumplestiltskin’s son Baelfire (Dylan Schmid) and the identity of Henry’s biological father — something Emma avoided telling Henry in Season 1. Morrisson said she was one of the few people who already know that secret.
“We kind of discussed it really early on, in the pilot process,” Morrisson said. “I mean, obviously Emma knew who it was. … It was something that I kind of needed to know for my research and back story in order to play Emma.”
Jamie Dornan, left, as Sheriff Graham and Meghan Ory as Ruby in “Once Upon a Time.” (Sergei Bachlakov / ABC)
A short, funny video (above) — by Jane Espenson, who wrote many of the Rumplestiltskin and Red Riding Hood episodes — screened during the panel, showing the characters as lovelorn clients of Singlebrooke, a fictional online dating service.
David (Prince Charming in fairy-tale land) described his ideal woman: “She’s milk white. … Is that racist?”
And Sheriff Graham/The Huntsman (Jamie Dornan), one of the show’s most popular characters who nevertheless wound up dead at the hands of Regina, made an appearance in the video, touching his hand to his chest and saying, “Recently I’ve felt this emptiness here.”
The show’s creators hinted that the return of magic will also allow for the return of deceased characters, including Maleficent, whom Emma defeated at the end of last season.
“I didn’t see her body,” Kitsis said. “I just saw an egg full of magic and some dust.”
Horowitz smiled, and teasingly added, “There’s magic in Storybrooke now.”
– Noelene Clark
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When is the 2nd series coming out?????? Please help
xx
Shelly
Fall 2012
Uh wow….possible SPOILER much?! Who the hell asked you to divulge that information? Totally unessesary….
Read below, I think she misunderstood what she read…..
The new season will also reveal the identity of Henry’s father, what happened to Rumplestiltskin’s son Baelfire, and the fairy tale alter-ego for mysterious Dr. Whale.
Dr. Whale = Captain Nemo
he also could be Jonas from Bible ;p or at least captain from Moby Dick ;D
September 30th
SEPT. 30
Sept 30th
That Singlebrooke video was hillarious. It was a pleasent surpise to see Graham in it, if only magic could make him return like with Maleficent. I miss him. I'm guessing Maleficent is going to be very ticked off with Regina for trapping her as a dragon so that should be interesting to see play out.
absolutely enjoyed all the episodes of "Once upon a time" as I'm a great fan of fairy tales….
C
When will Season 1 be available on DVD?
August 28th
The video hinted the DVD will be available Aug. 28th. I can't wait!!
Mulan? Since when was Mulan a fairy tale character?
Anyhow, I can’t wait for the second season!
Since Disney owned ABC lolz
They have are borrowing disney characters, Mulan was disney.
They are all disney characters
Mulan is actually a Chinese folktale. The Disney movie follows the story (as closely as Disney follows the original stories!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan
Fairy tales also exist in other countries and cultures. Just because Mulan is a Chinese character doesn't mean she isn't a fairy tale character in her own right. Thinking that characters like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella etc. are the only true fairy tale characters is having a very Euro-centric (and a bit narrow minded) view on what a fairy tale story is.
Chana, read the article again dearie. It says it will release who Henry’s father is, as well as what happened to Balefire, not that Balefire is Henry’s father.
Even if it is true and Balefire is Henry's dad, and now you know it… What? Are you going to suddenly NOT watch the show, or enjoy it as much? Things put out, that Disney is attached to, is always high quality enough that it doesn't matter.
Anyone know the date when it will be on
I am so happy to hear that their is the chance for the huntsmen to be coming back and i really hope he does and that could also hopefully mean that him and Emma could end up reconnecting
I want also Ariel the Little Mermaid in the second season!
Spoiler Alert– SHE IS! They like hinted that to no end at comic-con
When will the second season start?
I also heard there would be an Ariel in season 2. I sure hope so!
sept 30 abc 8/7 centeral is when it starts
Really
What is this video that they keep referring to?
I am SO excited, it's unreal, but does anybody know the exact date season 2 starts and the price of the season 1 on DVD? thanks
You can download the entire first season from Amazon for $20
I hope at some point they will have princess jasmine!
Hmmm… I'm really wondering if they will bring back the Huntsman. I would really like that to happen!
Loved the vid..it was too funny..can't wait enough for season two
I can’t wait to watch the show I’m a bid fan of once upon a time!!!!!
I know he’s not that popular but what happen to pinocchio? Is he still dead or because of the curse has been broken he alive again?
i want auguste to be in season 2!! if there's magic he can be a real boy again!
What are you talking about? I loved August Booth aka Pinochio. I hope he is not dead!
when will the second series start in uk???
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
once upon a time second season starts september 30th at 8pm
the new season starts sunday september 30th at 8pm on abc
I wonder if Dr.Whale is king Trition…..