The big news about next season's Once Upon a Time is that we're visiting Neverland for the first time. But there's also another watery surprise — the first appearance of Ariel!
At the Once panel today, after they aired the above teaser for season 3 — debuting none other than The Little Mermaid herself — the full cast joked around with fans, read fan favorite lines, and let slip a few details about next season's adventure.
Producer Edward Kitsis said, "We've never met Peter Pan, nor have we seen Neverland. So that's where we're going." The question is, will Peter Pan be evil? After all, it turns out Hook is a hunky good guy. Producer Adam Horowitz tried to duck that question, but finally admitted with a laugh, "Peter has complicated motivations. He's certainly different from what you'd expect." Added Kitsis, "He might be frightening." Similarly, when we meet Tinkerbell, she won't be what you know from previous stories. She also has a "surprising connection" to one of the regular characters.
Neverland sounds like it will be insane. "We see a lot of Neverland and we have our own spin on it," Kitsis said. "It's a fantastical island where imagination comes from. Anything can happen there." This theme that anything can happen came up a lot in the panel. Expect all the rules to change.
One of the best moments in the panel came when Colin O'Donoghue told us about the inspiration for his version of Hook. It's definitely not Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow, he said. "My Hook is a little bit Princess Bride, and a little bit of my friends from back home," he said, referring to his buddies back in Ireland. "When I put on that leather jacket, I become a different person. I'm an innuendo machine." The Princess Bride inspiration explains everything about why we love this Hook.
The panel also debuted a new "episode" of Good Morning, Storybrooke!, the faux Good Morning America show that was featured as an extra on the OUaT season 1 DVD sets. This is obviously an extra for the season 2 set (due out on August 13th), but you can watch it right now!