Once Upon A Time Season 6 Premier Juicy Details and A Q&A With The Creators & Executive Producers

Last week during my trip to LA for the #QueenofKatweEevnt I was invited to screen the first episode of ABC Networks Once Upon Of Time. I just squealed super loud I’m so happy yall can’t hear it through this post. It was truly in honor to have been invited to the screening of Season 6 Premiere. I have been following this show for years and couldn’t wait to get the first look at my favy show!

After the screening which I will try my best not to give away to much info, we were able to have a Q&A With the Executive Producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. There is some great information below and I hope they were able to answer the many questions all of us have about this amazing show.

Seeing this first episode of Season 6 really opened my eyes to what possibilities can be had in Storybrooke and in Once Upon  ATime in general. There is still so much mystery as to what it really means to be a Savoir with Emma, as well as what story she will have in a place where stories are a big base in everyday choices. I’m happy to see the stories opening up and becoming more wider with each episode that airs.

Quick Recap of The Season 6 Premier

Welcome to Storybrooke, a small town in Maine that you won’t find on any map. This town is full of magic, populated by fairytale characters once cursed by the Evil Queen Regina to live in our world—deprived of their memories and happy endings. Until Emma Swan came to town and changed everything. With the help of her son, Henry, Emma embraced her true identity as the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming—the Savior destined to break the Curse. But even after returning everyone’s memories, Emma’s mission was far from over. With the Curse broken, Mr. Gold (aka Rumplestiltskin) was free to bring magic to Storybrooke. And magic ALWAYS comes with a price…

As “Once Upon a Time” returns to ABC for its sixth season, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 (8:00–9:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network, so does its classic villain—the Evil Queen. Creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (“Lost,” “Tron: Legacy”) invite you to join everyone’s favorite fairytale characters as they face-off against this supercharged enemy.

In the season premiere episode, “The Savior,” as our heroes set out to stop Hyde, Emma develops a mysterious side effect, and Storybrooke becomes a haven for people from the Land of Untold Stories. Meanwhile, Regina and Zelena embrace their newfound sisterhood by becoming roommates, while Rumple tries to free Belle from the sleeping Curse with the help of a stranger. In flashback, Jafar confronts an afflicted Aladdin in Agrabah, and a secret about the Savior is revealed.

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The Q&A With The Executive Producers

The big question after you see the season premier of Season 6 is a huge one! Will Emma Die? I’m hoping not because she is truly one of my beloved characters of this show. She is so brave and really makes me as a mother push forward and fight for my kids and their beliefs and values.

Question: Are you saying that Emma is going to die?  Is there nothing that can actually stop her?

Edward Kitsis:   I would say that is a question we are posing and, ah, we have seen, ah, that, ah, I guess that’s what we’re going to explore this season.

AH  :    You know, I also add that the show remains a show about hope.  So, you know our characters are going to fight for that hope and to see if faith that is, you know is in line with that.

Edward Kitsis:  But I think what we really wanted to do was, ah, get inside Emma’s head.  You know, six years ago when we met her the very first thing she did to Henry is she said,  I don’t believe any of this, she even denied having a kid.  We’ve seen her grow and fight in all these travels and we thought, well what would happen if you really did all this?  You know, what is it?  Is it fair to return to the happy ending to everyone else and then we told yours doesn’t count?  And would you still keep doing your job?  Are you doing it out of the sake of duty or because you believe in it?  And what kind role model and what does this take on you?  And so we really wanted to get into Emma’s head this year in a character way and really explore what it means to have this responsibility.

Woah hold up! The Land of Untold Stories? This has been a big question mark in my head once I first heard about it.

Question :    Can you explain the concept of the untold story and how it is going to affect our regular characters?

AH  :    With untold story in the past we’ve seen the characters within the storybook who have been affected by the curse, whose stories intersect with our characters, in the case of characters whose happy endings have been ripped away by the Evil Queen and her curse.  With the Land of Untold Stories, it’s a little bit different, and what we’re exploring is characters who have run away from their stories, who have left them and gone to this other place.  Now they find themselves in a storybook in stories that may have been put on pause and resumed.

So rather than stories that necessarily that have ended in a certain way, these are stories that were kind of midstream that for whatever reason these characters didn’t want to see it continue. It’s kind of a different way into kind of looking at what some of these classic characters have gone through, and how, and finding another way that they can kind of intersect with our characters.

Question :   With a follow up on it, did the characters then have the control in their stories?  Or is there somebody running that?

Edward Kitsis:  It’s the same sort of control that I think any of the characters have had, which is that they have free will in their lives are moving forward, but there are forces on antagonism, like for our storybook characters it was the Evil Queen when she casts that curse.  For these characters, many of them met forces on antagonism that are like, I don’t want to deal with this, and then went somewhere else.

As many of us already wonder how do they pick which stories to tell and how do they come up with these characters. I’m curious to see what this season brings as far as untold stories and how they weave into the main characters lives.

Question :   What was the selection process like for choosing the untold stories?  And how deep are you going?  And how much of that time will be focused on those untold stories? 

AH  :    We have a dart board.

Edward Kitsis:    For instance, the second episode is The Count of Monte Cristo and The Count of Monte Cristo was a master of revenge.  You’re going to see the story unfold where The Count of Monte Cristo we realize has a past with the Evil Queen, who we also know was interested in getting revenge.  For us when we bring in new characters it is the fun of telling that story.  Also though, how it filmatically links back to our characters.  And I think what you’ll see in this first bunch, or actually the first 10 episodes is it really is, we’re back to, it’s just our characters.  The villain is obviously the Evil Queen, Rumple is not looking very heroic right now, and Zelena is caught between two sisters.  We’re going to see some chaos in Storybook unfold, but really it’s, a lot of it is going to be between our characters.

AH  :    And when we talk about, and again this is the first ten episodes, we’re not talking about it as a distinct arch, in the way we’ve done the last few years, it’s where our arch is in production right now.  Kind of design some smaller arch and larger ones that kind of go over the season.  There’s an early episode where we’re going to be seeing Cinderella again, for example, we haven’t seen her in a number of seasons.  Way back in season one when we first met her, she had this story about what happened in her childhood, giving it out with Rumple, it was a reflection on what Emma was going through at that time.  And in the same way I think and hope that you’ll see a lot of these stories are doing the same sort of thing.

Edward Kitsis:  For instance, that was Emma’s first happen ending she actually returned, it was episode four of the show and that was the very first time that Emma, at the end of it, decided to stay in Storybook.  And she saw herself through Cinderella.  So now we’re in the separation where Emma has been told she’s going to die. Well what if someone can undo all the happiness you’ve done and would your life matter?  So if you can’t get your own happy ending, and you’re faced with somebody out there that’s trying to undo the ones you have done who does that?  And I think that’s kind of what we start to explore.

New Characters? 

I was just having a discussion with a friend of mine in the car about what we should expect in the coming up episodes. We went down a huge list of who has already made their appearances in the show and were wondering who would be next.

Question :   And what are some other characters we can expect to see this season, besides like Aladdin and Cinderella?

AH  :    We are going to be seeing Captain Nemo, Count of Monte Cristo, Cinderella, Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar.

Edward Kitsis:  We’re going to meet the Evil Stepmom from Cinderella, we’re going to meet the wicked step sisters, or evil stepsisters.  We’re going to see a lot more of Archie, this year, Jiminy Cricket. Elroy and the Dwarfs, our normal group of people. The Land of Untold Stories

AH  :    You know what’s been really fun is kind of what Eddy’s just saying about these other characters who have been on the show in years popping back up is that in the last few seasons our characters have been going on journeys whether it’s to Neverland or the Underworld, now they’re back in Storybook trying to make a life for themselves there.  So we’re-we’re trying to dig more into what daily life is, what normal is.

In an early episode you’re going to see Snow White ask the question of what is normal.  And how do we get back to it?  And that’s-that’s something that she kind of strives towards and in doing that, it allows us to kind of see these characters that we’ve grown to love writing for and hopefully the fans enjoy seeing as well, you know, pop in and out of all of their lives. And will hopefully kind of create that-that big sense of community in a sort of way.

Bell & Rumple + Son?

As we all know Bell is pregnant with Rumples baby, until this episode we didn’t know if the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. Now that we know that the baby is going to be a boy and that their relationship is already off to a rocky start. I would like to know when we will be seeing him again since he was about 28 at the time of his introduction to his mother Bell and his father Rumple.

Question :    Can you talk a little bit about the introduction of Rumple and Bell’s adult son, are we going to be seeing him again?  The casting process of it all, because  you guys nailed that one.

Adam Horowitz :  Oh, thank you. I love him and we think he’s great.  We’re going to being seeing him again.  This was a taste of-of an introduction and how we get to that because she’s clearly still pregnant.  It’s a surprise we want to keep going. It’s not like Mork and Mindy, or that type.

Edward Kitsis: And he will come out, you know, 28. No, not so far, but it could be, you know what I mean.  That seasons so young that might be a good idea, now that I think about it.

Question  :    Can you also talk about the tension in their relationship?  And what Bell is really hoping to achieve this year?

Adam Horowitz :  I think that Bell really kind of is in a place on where she’s given up on Rumple, but they have a child and so that makes things messier.  Because once a child is involved you actually have to put aside your own feelings and put the child first no matter how much you hate the other person and that is going to be tested.  I wouldn’t say that she hates him though, I would say she’s severely disappointed and she seems very angry with him, but no, and that is very true.

Edward Kitsis:   Yeah.

Adam Horowitz :  And I think that anyone who’s been in a relationship usually can experience that like when you-you love someone that the strongest reactions you can get are veered on hate and-and that terrible disappointment. Because they’ve had that love between them, what’s happen to them is so terrible and has ripped them apart in such a difficult way, she’s really struggling now with how to move forward in life.  Because Rumple has positioned himself in a position where it appears to be an unbendable relationship.  So Bell really has to figure out, how do I give birth to this child?  How do I raise it?  What do I do about his father and the fact that I love this man and have these feelings.

Edward Kitsis: And there’s the psychological, you know, the fact that Rumple lost his child, ah, and so it’s clear that he, you know, he truly loves Bell, he truly wants that child, he truly wants to be a good dad, but he is a gangster, he’s not giving life up.  And that’s what he said to her.  He’s like, I like the life.  So you either have to realize that this is what I do.  As far as Rumple’s concerned, this is art, you know.  These deals and screwing people over is what he does best.

And so he can’t, you know, what he kind of came to last year was this is who I am, and if you want me to be a better man, I am, but I can’t be a different man, and I have to accept the fact that this is who I am. I’m never going to be Regina, off trying to be a hero.  I am going to constantly be, you know, in a gray area where I think he resides.

Adam Horowitz :  Yeah, and I think what’s interesting to us in exploring those characters, and Rumple’s is something you-you’ve saw in the premier where when they’re in the dream world and he, and she asks if, you know, he came for her and he-he says, for you, you know, I would try.

Edward Kitsis:  I’ll be the best man I can be.

Adam Horowitz :   I’ll be the best man I can be, which is a very carefully chosen set of words.  He’ll be the best man he can be, but he can’t quite get to that place of actually being a good man.  But he does become sort of a better man,  but he also never really portrays who he is.  And that’s the push pull in that relationship.  And she does love him and see the good and the bad in him, and sees the potential, it’s that frustration that continues to grow, which is wow, if he could just kind of keep going in that one direction it could work. But something always sort of pulls him back.

Edward Kitsis:  I think, you know, it’s that gray area is what we like to write.  Because if it was just good, there was just evil and the show gets boring, and for us, we always wanted it to work on the level of taking the icons into humans, you know.  So you’re taking the Snow White, figurine off yourself and saying, what would she really be like?  And the same with Rumple.  And every year I always remind our fans that he warned us in Skin Deep, he was a difficult man to love.  And every year people fall for him.  And then when he reminds you of that they get upset.  So this year will be no different.

Adam Horowitz : That’s the fun of it for us, and hopefully the audience, which is exploring these ups and downs, and yes there are a lot of downs in this.  But that’s because we have an incredibly goodhearted character who has fallen in love with one of the most flawed characters on this show.  So it’s never going to be easy and that’s just the nature of what those two are.

Q   :    Six seasons into the show you guys are at the point where it’s not true love as a romantic love, it can be a parent and a child, or between siblings.  Can you talk about sort of exploring, like moving away from what traditional happy ending or true love story would be.  And is it possible that some of your pairings that we really became attached to in the beginning of this show, you’re like, real life you don’t necessarily have a happy ending or a traditional happy ending.

Edward Kitsis: Yeah, no.  I think that absolutely true.   I think this show has always been about a family. There’s a lot of romance and I think you’re going to see, the first few episodes have a lot of that romance in them, but at the end of the day, the curse was broken between a son and a mom.  And family comes first on this show, and that is important to us.  I think that also we try to do real life like Neil.  Neil is Emma’s first boyfriend, we all have them, and you don’t marry them usually, you move on and you learn from them.  And they become a how to of what not to do or what to do, but that’s what they were, and that was real to us.

Adam Horowitz :   Same with Regina with Daniel, which there’s nothing untrue about that love or impure about it, but she moved on and she found love with Robin and, you know, and subsequent we lost him. Nut it’sup to Eddy’s point it’s character roaming and experiencing things, the goal of the show has always been to not have it just be a pattern.

Question  :    While we’re talking about lve and relationships, we have Emma now lying to Hook about what’s really going on with her, how is that going to effect the two of them as a couple?

Edward Kitsis: In a good way.  Hook likes lies, he likes Emma not being honest, he likes when he walls are up, and it’s going to work for her just as well as she thought.

Adam Horowitz :  But in, but in all seriousness it’s-it’s, you know, um, it’s-it’s what we’re trying to explore in sort of these gray areas of it’s a lie that’s coming from what is a good place in her mind, but he’s probably not going to feel that way when he finds out.

Edward Kitsis: And it’s also, you know, Emma, um, it’s her character, you know, the fun thing about the sixties and at least as writers you get to revert to that.  When Emma has a problem she reverts back to season one, walls go up, I’ll figure it out on myself, I don’t need to tell anyone.  So she could sit there and have these great scenes of hugging Henry, and hugging her mom, and telling Regina that they’re buddies.  And then all of a sudden when something comes up, she reverts back.  And I think that’s kind of the journey for her and Hook, which is now that she said last year, I love you.  We thought, well if you’re letting that wall down and all those good things in, all the bad things are going to come in.  And it’s that push pull is kind of what’s going to be driving them.

Is Robin Hood Really Dead?

I’m sure all of you are with me when I say No! Not Robin Hood! I was so heart broken when he died, I really felt for Regina and for the love they could have had.

Question  :    You’ve said over and over again, that this is a show about hope.  For all of those fans out there who are still hoping that Robin Hood will come back, what do you say to them?

Edward Kitsis: I’d say dead is dead. Ah, I would say this, you know, we-we see those tweets every day, all three thousands of them every two seconds.  Um, the-the, you know, I think that, ah, we’ve had loss on this show, we’ve had people come back, um, we’re not going to the Underworld this year. So, um, I-I-I can tell you that, you know, a lot of this year is about Regina dealing with loss and moving on, because I think Regina has the most unfair luck of anybody.  But that’s kind of what makes her Regina.

Adam Horowitz :  And by moving on, we don’t mean like falling in love with someone right away.  That-That’s not realistic to us, like this was someone she-she did love, and who she did lose, and we hope that we deal with that grief and that aftermath in a real way.

 

Will you be tuning in SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 8/7 Central for the PremierePremier of Once Upon A Time on the ABC TV Network? What do you hope to see in the first episode? If you have already seen it leave below what you thought of this introduction to a new and grand Season of ABC’s Once Upon A Time.