ONCE UPON A TIME: Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz Tease the ‘Surprising and Satisfying’ Season Finale

It’s almost time for the ONCE UPON A TIME season finale!

Personally? I’m a bit giddy about it. It’s no secret ONCE UPON A TIME was one of my favorite pilots this year, and I’ve loved the ride we’ve gone on over the first season.

So to fully celebrate the conclusion of the first season, I hopped on the phone with OUAT creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz to see what they could share about the finale, season 2, and more…

It’s been such a jam-packed season. What can you tease about what the finale brings?
Edward Kitsis: Well, I think that the finale, so much has happened, and yet it’s all building towards something. And the finale is where a lot of it comes to a head. We set up a lot of things in the beginning of the season and we’re hoping the finale is surprising and satisfying at the same time.

Personally, it almost feels like over the past several weeks you’ve been leading up to a reveal of the curse. Whether that’s the case or not, is there any concern about fans expecting one thing and then being disappointed if it doesn’t play out the way they want?
Adam Horowitz: We’re always concerned about the fan reaction because we’re writing this for the fans. We want them to enjoy it and we really hope they love what we’re doing. We’re very excited by the finale. We’re very excited about what happens in it and we hope they’ll go along for the ride and see where we take it.

Fair enough. Were you disappointed that the ABC press release for the episode “spoiled” four returning guest stars for the hour?
EK: It’s kind of like the thing where if you watch the opening credits, you’ll see their names anyway. What we’re really excited about is how we reveal them and what part they play. And that we’ve managed to keep secret thus far. We’re really excited for them to see how that plays out.

Last we saw Regina, she had tried to poison Emma and Henry ended up being the victim in their fight when he ate the tainted dessert to prove his point. Could Emma and Regina ever find peace, even if it’s just to help Henry?
EK: Will they ever find peace? That is a bigger question. You know, I don’t know, sometimes people are forced to work together, sometimes people fight. They both are two very tortured souls and they need to find inner peace first.
AH: And let’s be honest — if they find peace, there’s not a lot left for the show.
EK: Yeah.
AH: In all seriousness, I’ll say this, one of the things we explore on the show is what is a happy ending? Once we get to an ending that feels resolved and happy, we like to push past them and see what happens next. We started with that in the pilot, with Charming waking up Snow, and we’re continuing to try and do that.

Speaking of Snow and Charming, what can you say about them in the finale?
EK: I believe Charming is working on a mixed tape for Snow right now, so you’ll have to see in the finale if she gets it.

And naturally, you’ll be putting that playlist on Twitter, right?
EK: [Laughs] The difficulty is carving it out of one of those wooden wheels…but he’s good with his hands.

You guys have magic there in the fairytale land, he can make stuff happen…
AH: I would definitely say that Snow and Charming — and David and Mary — we’re definitely going to be getting into that relationship. In episode 21, we saw the events of the apple through Snow’s eyes. The finale is going to be the opposite side, through Charming[‘s point of view].

I have a potentially really nerdy question — if they’re able to reverse the curse, would they be going back to where we first started off with them in the fairytale land?
EK: That is a very interesting question, which is also, is there anything to even go back to? Who knows? And I would say those are questions we are aware of and will someday explore.

I was thinking about it the other day and it hit me that the most current scenes we saw in the fairytale land, Charming was dead. And that certainly wouldn’t really be something most of us want to have happen…
AH: Well, he would definitely be wounded; he was stabbed. But I guess it would depend on where they’re going and when they’re going and what they would be going back to. If they would even be going back anyway.
EK: What we’ve established in the show already is that the events you see in fairytale land occur in the past for these characters, 28 years ago.
AH: So the real question is, Eddy is saying, is what does that mean for the here and now? And that’s something we’re excited to explore at some point.

Good to know. Should fans be mentally prepping for a tragic death in the finale?
EK: There is definitely a death.
AH: Death is usually tragic, and there are steep prices to be paid. One of the themes of the show has been the price of magic, and that’s something we continue to explore in hopefully a very intense way in the finale.

Will fans have an idea of what season 2 might look like by the time the finale ends?
EK: Um…Adam?
AH: I’m not sure if the way to look at it is if they’ll have a sense of what it will be, necessarily, but our hope is the fans walk away from the finale going, “Wow, what are they going to do next?” In an excited, anticipatory way.
EK: We’re hoping the summer feels very long to everyone because they hopefully can’t wait to come back and see.

Does that mean there’s a cliffhanger?
EK: Look, any finale has to do two things — they have to satisfy what you set up in season 1 and set up new terms for another season and this show has to continue to grow. Is there a cliffhanger? Well…there’s definitely, hopefully, a lot of questions that get raised in the finale that people want to come back and see the answers to in season 2.

Was there any character you wish you had the chance to explore more of in season 1?
AH: Yeah, I mean, I think that one of the things we’re looking forward to is now that we have a season where you kind of know the players, we’re always interested in digging deeper into their lives. And I think that’s something we’re definitely looking forward to in season 2.
–
Will you be tuning in for ONCE UPON A TIME’s season finale tonight? And in the meantime, don’t forget to check out the fun extras they have on the show’s official site!

Related:

ONCE UPON A TIME Season Finale: ‘A Land Without Magic’ Photo Preview
ONCE UPON A TIME: Jane Espenson Teases ‘An Apple Red as Blood’
ONCE UPON A TIME: Jane Espenson Teases ‘The Return,’ the Identity of the Stranger, What Character is Difficult for Her to Write and More

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And to be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv