Once Upon A Time Season 7: Everything We Know
CHANNING DUNGEY
IDENTITY CRISIS?!
ABC's initial synopsis for Season 7 said, "The residents of the Enchanted Forest face their greatest challenge yet as the Evil Queen, Captain Hook and Rumplestiltskin join forces with a grown up Henry Mills and his daughter Lucy on an epic quest to once again bring hope to their world and ours."
Later during ABC's Upfronts (pictured), entertainment chief Channing Dungey added that "Hook, the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin" will "return but with new identities in a new city, facing a new curse." (Since then it has been revealed that they will be a police officer named Rogers, bar owner Roni and a "menacing" someone.)
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A NEW THREAT
As suggested by the Season 6 finale's flash-forward to "a time of great upheaval" in the Enchanted Forest, Henry and Lucy will be safeguarding the storybook while trying to vanquish a great Darkness.
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WHO IS LUCY'S MOTHER?
"'Who is Henry's wife?' and that love story is going to be a big part of next season," series co-creator Eddy Kitsis told TVLine. The producers have, however, ruled out Violet (Henry's teen crush) and pretty much nixed Disney heroine Moana.
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WHO'S RETURNING?
Original cast members Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle, as well as series vet Colin O'Donoghue, are set to return as series regulars.
ONCE UPON A TIME
WHO ELSE IS GONE?
Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin (who played Prince Charming and Snow White) will not be back...
ONCE UPON A TIME
WHAT ABOUT EMMA?
Jennifer Morrison is not returning for Season 7, though she is contracted to appear in one episode (likely the season premiere).
JARED GILMORE
SON, SET
Since Season 6 ended with a "Years Later" time jump, Jared Gilmore will no longer be playing Henry Mills aka the Truest Believer.
LANA PARRILLA
NO MORE MAINE ATTRACTION
With adult Henry now living in Seattle, the creators told TVLine that Storybrooke will no longer be the show's "home base," but may be glimpsed again at some point. "We won't see the end of Storybrooke," Kitsis said. "It just won't be the focal point of the show."
GINNIFER GOODWIN
'HOPE' STILL FLOATS
One thing that remains the same is the series' primary thematic underpinning. "The idea of fairy tales in the real world, and the real world needing to have hope, is still very relevant and personal to us," Kitsis told TVLine.
MEGHAN ORY, JAMIE CHUNG
NEW FACES, OLD FRIENDS
In addition to revisiting familiar denizens of the Enchanted Forest, "There are definitely some new fairy tale characters we've never done before," Kitsis told TVLine. So when weaving fairy tale characters into upcoming stories, "It will be a hybrid."
ONCE UPON A TIME
FOR 'CAPTAIN SWAN,' HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
Though Season 7 — due to the aforementioned cast changes as well as its new narrative — won't have the opportunity to chronicle Emma and Hook's early days as newlyweds, the two "ended the season in love and in a beautiful place," co-creator Adam Horowitz reminds viewers. "We really wanted to have that feeling that they had found each other and were going to go on together."
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WHO ELSE IS GONE? (cont'd)
...nor will Emilie de Ravin and Rebecca Mader return, as Belle and Zelena. And as for the kid who played Henry....
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A TALE OF TWO... TALES
Akin to how the Season 6 finale both showed Henry/Lucy in the Enchanted Forest and then first meeting in Seattle, Once's dual narrative structure remains intact. "As has been the show's modus operandi all along, there are different things going on all at once, all the time," Horowitz told TVLine.
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WHEN WILL IT AIR?
Once Upon a Time Season 7 will air in a new time slot — Fridays at 8/7c, where for eight weeks it will lead into Marvel's Inhumans (and after that stretch, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). A premiere date has not yet been announced.
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SON, RISE
With Henry now grown up (and the dad to a 10-year old daughter named Lucy!), Andrew J. West (The Walking Dead) is playing the role in Season 7.
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WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Once co-creator Adam Horowitz revealed the Season 7 premiere title on Twitter in late June: "Hyperion Heights." Is it the name of the show's new, Seattle-adjacent setting? And/or a nod to the street Disney Studios used to be on, decades ago?
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HOMECOMING
Horowitz then shared via Instagram a first "script tease," revealing that the very first scene of Season 7 is, in fact, set in good ol' Storybrooke.
Once Upon a Time
CAST ADDITIONS, PART 2
Gabrielle Anwar (Burn Notice), Dania Ramirez (Devious Maids) and Mekia Cox (Chicago Med) have joined the Season 7 cast as series regulars, playing Mady Tremaine, a new version of Cinderella and Tiana, while Adelaide Kane (Reign) and English actress Rose Reynolds (Poldark) will recur as Drizella and a new Alice.