ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND: Naveen Andrews on Reuniting with Former LOST Writers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, Plus Creating a New Take on Jafar

ONCE UPON A TIME bosses (and former LOST writers) Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis have often relied on former LOST stars for guest spots (or in the case of Emilie de Ravin, a guest spot-turned-series regular gig), and with their new show, ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND, about to make its debut, they’ve called on a familiar face to be a series regular: Naveen Andrews (Sayid on LOST/Jafar on WONDERLAND)!

“Basically, it was like a ten minute meeting,” Andrews told me of how he got involved with the ONCE spinoff. “They told me they created this character, and they said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we got someone like Naveen to do it?’ We had worked together on LOST, and they had written one of my favorite episodes in the fifth season where Sayid is made to take LSD with interesting results [in “He’s Our You”]. And I was available, because I think when they first wrote it, I wasn’t.”

“So I went in and they said, ‘We wanted you to do it,'” he continued. “So it was literally ten minutes. Again, I felt very familiar and safe in terms of their writing. From the things they wrote in that fifth season, I knew they were willing to be daring and dangerous. I think we have a similar approach to Jafar in that sense.”

And much like the variations Horowitz and Kitsis made on fairytale characters in the ONCE UPON A TIME mothership, Andrews’ version of Jafar will be different than the version people are familiar with.

“First of all, it’s important to remember the character existed before Disney,” Andrews pointed out. “Pre-Disney, you did have ‘Arabian Nights’…I don’t know if it’s 400 years old, but it’s certainly older than Disney. I guess what we’re trying to do, Adam and Eddy [and I], is give [the audience] something they’ve never seen before. Even if you hear the word ‘Jafar,’ it conjures up a very familiar image, or an idea of the nature of evil in the popular imagination. You can visualize it, of course, because of the cartoon. We wanted to get away from that, and show more of him that people haven’t seen before.”

Indeed, this Jafar has some new tricks up his sleeves…but you’re going to have to tune into the ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND pilot Thursday night at 8 PM to get a better idea of what those might be. And be sure to check back soon for more from my chat with Andrews!

ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND debuts Thursday, October 10th at 8 PM on ABC.

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