It’s been a busy week for our favorite residents of Storybrooke, as the Once Upon A Time cast and crew swung by both D23 and SDCC, giving fans new details in the next chapter of our beloved series as well as a few new surprises for those in attendance at both expos.
First up, lets start with Disney’s D23 which occurred back on the July 15th weekend.
Here Captain Hook himself, Colin O’Donoghue was on hand along with series creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis to give a sneak peak into the upcoming season seven. The new season will now focuses on an adult Henry (Andrew J. West) and take place in Seattle, as he is helped by his daughter Lucy (Alison Fernandez) into saving his family and the rest of the Enchanted Forest. However this Enchanted Forest will be entirely new in and of itself containing different versions and interpretations of the characters we once knew and ones we haven’t heard of yet. We’ll even meet Henry’s wife and Lucy’s mother, who is none other then Cinderella — played by series newcomer, Dania Ramirez.
There is also a never say never attitude when it comes to seeing former series regulars, with Kitsis saying he “would be disappointed if we didn’t” and that the actual town of Storybrooke may be seen a “few times throughout” the next season. Never fear either, while the next season will feature new characters and places, Horowitz and Kitsis assured that everything that has happened before in the series will still come into play as well in the next chapter of the series.
O’Donoghue quipped at the D23 panel that him and Henry get to go to a Sephora together in Seattle during episode three of the new season so Hook can get more guyliner and even O’Donoghue joked saying he should start an actual guyliner line. Afterwards he sang “Revenge Is Gonna Be Mine” from the season six musical episode to a rounding applause from the attendees to end the panel on a good note.
Now flash-forward seven days later to SDCC on July 22, where we got even more info on the upcoming season seven and a few extra cast announcements for attendees.
But first up, we got our first trailer for the new season! Here we got a brief recap of what went down in the past six seasons, and it picks up right where we left off with the reluctant adult Henry and his daughter Lucy telling him to go save his family; with season seven being built around Regina (Lana Parrilla), Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) and Captain Hook centric stories as they come to Henry and Lucy’s aid.
At the panel, the producers screened two scenes of the upcoming season, which shows the younger Henry (the exiting, Jared Gilmore) leaving home after high school to explore new fairy tales and to figure out his own story. The second scene featured the now adult Henry on a motorcycle which then crashes into a horse-drawn carriage of Cinderella’s planting the beginnings of their romance.
Also joining this season will be Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, Lady Tremaine played by Burn Notice veteran, Gabrielle Anwar. Cinderella’s step sister, Drizella played by Reign actress, Adelaide Kane. And Disney princesses Tiana (Mekia Cox) from The Princess and The Frog and a new version of Alice (Rose Reynolds) from Alice In Wonderland will be making an appearance too!
For attendees unable to make the big panel but stopped by the show’s booth on the SDCC floor, they got a chance to meet the cast — both the returning and new — for autograph sessions and photo opportunities as seen on the show’s Facebook page.
It’s hard to say if the new season of Once Upon A Time will live up to the previous chapter of the series. But for what it’s worth the new cast and old crew are firing off of all cylinders for fans this past week and surely into the months to come as season seven starts, proving that some stories will never grow old and that magic lives.
Once Upon A Time returns on Fridays at 8pm starting Oct 6. Be sure to check back weekly once it premiers this Fall to catch all my latest previews, info, recaps and reviews for the series right here on The Game Of Nerds.
