Showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz talk familiar faces, new threats and wrapping things up in this Once Upon A Time final season of the hit show.
During a preview of the upcoming Once Upon a Time midseason finale the duo behind Tron: Legacy, who broke out together on LOST, discussed the final chapter of the ABC primetime show and what comes next. “I think right now a vacation.” Horowitz joked. “We may take a break, or at this point, we may do something but don’t have anything planned. Whatever we do next it’s gotta be something we love, and right now we’re really focused on the series finale, and we’re still shooting and have about another 6-8 weeks left to wrap up the series.”
With the series coming to an end there’s a lot of great surprises coming to the forefront. In the episode we watched alone, we got a glimpse at the witch coven that’s forming as a force to be reckoned with and a look at the first appearance of Madam Leota of Haunted Mansion lore. The disembodied head seeks a new body to host her spirit with the help of Mother Gothel. So Evil and Wicked, AKA Regina and Zelena, prepare to bring their witchy sides back to prepare for battle. And not just in front of the camera as we got filled in on Lana Parrilla’s directorial debut. “She’s directing episode 17, she did an amazing job, and it’s interesting how quickly she took to directing.” shared Kitsis, “Her episode is a Zelena-centric episode.”
Horowitz interjected, “It felt like having one sister directing the other sister felt appropriate. They work well together. We’re just now starting to work on the edit of that episode. She did an amazing job shooting it. We can’t wait for you guys to see it.”
As the show winds to a close, fans of the show excitedly hope for the return of familiar faces. When it comes to who exactly will go back, Kitsis and Horowitz play it close to the chest. “Jennifer Morrison has not yet been confirmed on any level. We’re very hopeful to see a lot of familiar faces till the end. We haven’t confirmed anyone. We hope to see a lot of familiar faces. We can tell you that Once is home to everyone. There’s an open invitation to every actor who has been on the show. We’ll see whos available. Throughout the year we’ll see some familiar faces as well.” Kitsis revealed. “Episode 20 is a Regina/Henry flashback, and Jared plays Henry. We’ll expect to have announcements in the next few weeks everyone’s welcome back. The real question is will the last couple hours remind us of the last six years, and the answer is yes but does that mean everyone is coming back? No.”
The show’s run has seen fantastic female characters at the core starting with a Snow White that was not just a princess but a capable warrior. To Kitsis that encapsulates the essence of what drove the show in subverting the tropes. “Emma was strong, Regina is strong, Alice is strong, and it was the approach we always took with the show to write three-dimensional people–men and women and to give them all complex and interesting lives and stories that feel real and not put anybody in a preconceived box,” he said.
The show could have ended with season six, and as seven is coming to a close, the showrunners discussed what most important to them to bring to the show’s ending. “It’s about the feeling. That’s what we’re really striving for which is the feeling of Once Upon a Time for the audience,” said Horowitz about paying respect to the fanbase. Kitsis added, “This year our season finale is not going to be let’s tie up everything. It’s more about taking the last two hours to celebrate what we’ve loved for the past seven years of Once Upon a Time. It’s one more adventure. It sees faces we’ve missed, and we all took a really long car trip together. So for us, it’s saying goodbye to the show and saying goodbye to all the things we loved. It’s getting to hear the songs one last time.”
What about seeing Storybrooke again?
“I would be depressed if we didn’t see Storybrooke.” Horowitz declared. “So yes we’re going to see Storybrooke again.”
