ONCE UPON A TIME Post-Mortem: Eddy Kitsis Teases What’s to Come

[This post contains spoilers for the ONCE UPON A TIME season 4 premiere.]

FROZEN came to ONCE UPON A TIME in the season 4 premiere, and while Elsa didn’t fare too well in Storybrooke, the premiere offered up some fun teases about what’s in store this season. I spoke with ONCE UPON A TIME co-creator Eddy Kitsis about the path to meeting the author behind the fairytale book, Regina’s set-back, and more…

There’s a fantastic tease that Regina is going to find the author of the fairytale book. How will that play out this season, and will that be an answer we get sooner versus later?
Edward Kitsis: That one’s a bigger arc. Some seeds that were planted will be dealt with right away, and others will take a longer journey. The end result is you will find out who wrote the book.

Is the author someone we’ve seen before?
EK: You’ll have to wait and see.

So far, with the exception of Elsa, the FROZEN characters are contained to the flashbacks. Will we see any of them pop up in Storybrooke?
EK: The flashbacks are a journey to find Anna, and where that takes them is what the first 11 [episodes] is about.

Elsa caused a bit of destruction, but didn’t really interact with our characters. Who will she first come into contact with in a meaningful way?
EK: It’s going to be Emma.

Did that dynamic play out the way you thought it might when you first anticipated bringing these characters together?
EK: It did. It definitely — I think we thought Elsa and Emma had a lot in common.

There was a great BEAUTY AND THE BEAST homage in the premiere. What can you say about the decision to give them that dance during their honeymoon?
EK: We realized we had never seen them dance, so what would they do on their honeymoon? They’re going to dance. And that scene, it just felt — it was a scene that everyone wanted, and we finally got to it at the right moment.

Rumple and Belle may be newlyweds, but he’s keeping a number of secrets from her. What can you tease about what’s ahead?
EK: It’s going to play out complicated…Hopefully in a way that fans won’t expect.

What can you say about the balance the writers are trying to strike with Regina? On one hand, she’s the Evil Queen, but at the same time, there has been a significant amount of growth over the past few seasons…
EK: It’s hard. I think who she is as a person always remains. But what it is, is she’s growing. My favorite moment of the premiere was when [Marian] said, “I guess you’re really not a monster.” And Regina goes, “I guess I’m not.” It’s a surprise to herself. That’s what I love about Regina: she surprises us. But at the same time, she’s a queen, and she’s used to getting her way. And she’s used to playing hardball. So that’s the balance. She may stick Sidney in the mirror, but she gets what she wants.

Emma and Regina had a really beautiful scene near the end of the premiere —
EK: The FROZEN shot!

What can you say about where that dynamic is going this season, especially as Emma is feeling guilty for her role in breaking up Regina and Robin?
EK: We’re going to — their dynamic started with Regina trying to get her out of town, and hating each other. And they’ve obviously grown. And with Marian [in town], we’re going to explore how Regina is going to recover from a broken heart. And we’re going to flash back to Emma’s childhood, to young Emma.

Emma and Hook haven’t really defined what’s going on with their relationship. Do you prefer to keep it that way, or will that change?
EK: I think we just wanted it to be real. Emma, it’s very hard to break her walls. And yeah, they had the kiss in the finale, but why she’s holding back gets revealed.

As Snow and Charming deal with their new baby, will that be their main focus for the earlier episodes? Or will there be some outside trouble?
EK: Episode two is a very big Charming episode. About his life before Snow.

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ONCE UPON A TIME airs Sundays at 8 PM on ABC.

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