Now that the curse of Storybrooke has been lifted and the fairytale characters of Once Upon a Time have had their memories restored, what's in store for the next season? The cast and show creators teased Season Two for their San Diego Comic-Con audience, including a big new villain. Spoilers within!
Creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz started their panel in SDCC's Ballroom 20 with a look at next season's title cards, including some new ones featuring Mulan, Sleeping Beauty/Aurora, and Jack's Beanstalk. "Fortunately, we're filming in Canada where they already have beanstalks," Joked Kitsis. They also jumped to a "commercial" (written by the wonderful Jane Espenson) in which The League's Paul Scheer plays one "Hart Archer" (ahem), the CEO and founder of Singlebrooke, a dating service for Storbrooke citizens. Then we get videos of various characters (including poor Sheriff Graham who is "nursing a broken heart") talking about what they are looking for in a romantic partner. It's very cute, and hopefully it'll be online soon.
Kitsis and Horowitz said that we'll be meeting our new characters very early on in the new season, and we'll be meeting them through the existing characters. When the panel moderator complained that they'll be introducing Aurora after the death of Maleficent, they both quickly replied, "I didn't see her body!" They also said that Dr. Whale's fairytale alias will be revealed pretty quickly.
They also said that the Storybrooke personalities won't be erased entirely. The fact that the characters spent all these years as these different people under the curse has affected them, and the new season explores that and how those personas are part of who the characters are now.
The moderator asked Jennifer Morrison, who plays Emma Swan, if we'll ever get to see Emma's foster parents as part of her backstory. Morrison said she's very interested to see Emma's backstory much as we've seen it for the other characters, and Kitsis jumped in with, "I'm much more interested in who Henry's father is." Yes, we'll learn the truth of Henry's parentage in Season Two, although the creators wouldn't say if it's someone we've already met. However, they strongly hinted that we'll find out what happened to Rumplestiltskin's son Bae this season. Might he be Henry's father?
The actors talked a bit about the fandom surrounding Once Upon a Time, especially Lana Parrilla's fans who are dubbed "Regal Evils" in Queen Regina's honor. However, Parrilla admitted, "Children do run from me. So do some adults."
Then came the big reveal. Up on the screens, Henry whispers to the camera that, just because the curse is broken, that doesn't mean Operation Cobra is over. Bad things are still happening in Storybrooke. We then cut to Mr. Gold's pawn shop, where a black-gloved, black-cloaked figure breaks in with a dagger. He breaks one of the cases and pulls out a silver hook, which he attaches to a hilt.
Captain Hook! Interesting, in Vertigo's similarly themed comic Fables, Captain Hook Peter Pan was meant to be the main antagonist, the Adversary, but Captain Hook's copyright situation was too complicated to deal with. But Disney has made Peter Pan movies in the past, so presumably they could license the character. Will we have to watch for ticking clocks and crocodiles in the new season?