Once Upon A Time Season Six Focuses on Hope, Growth, and Love #OUAT #ABCTVEvent #QueenOfKatweEvent

Once Upon A Time Season Six Focuses on Hope, Growth, and Love

Season six of Once Upon A Time premieres tonight on ABC, and fans of the show are in for a treat.  This past week I had the opportunity to screen the season premiere and it was a great start to what appears to be a great season.  The premiere titled “Savior” started off showing us Aladdin and Jafar.

About Season Six – Episode One “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.

OUAT fans are loyal and eager to learn about what’s coming for the season.  My twitter feed was filled with questions about the season premiere and finding out more about the rest of the season.  I don’t want to spoil anything for you about the premiere but I will say that it was a great introduction into what we should expect for the upcoming season.  I loved it, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the upcoming episodes.  After the screening we had the opportunity to sit and chat with Co-Creators and Executive Producers Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz.

The guys shared a few things with us about the show and what fans can expect in season six.  When we sat down with them this past week they had already worked on the first 10 episodes of the season.  This will be as spoiler free as possible but I did want to share some of the details they shared with us.

Expect Growth From Emma

Six years ago when we met Emma, the very first thing she did to Henry is she said was 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? Is it fair to return to the happy ending to everyone else and then you’re told yours doesn’t count. 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. – Adam Horowitz

What’s an Untold Story?

In the past we’ve seen the characters within the storybook who have been effective 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. – Adam Horowitz

Characters To Look for in Season 6

There are a few characters returning to Storybrooke and some appearing for the first time.  Adam and Edward shared some of those characters with our group.

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 who has a past with the Evil Queen, who we also know was interested in getting revenge.  When we bring in new characters part of the fun is 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 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. And so we’re going to see some chaos in Storybrook unfold, but really a lot of it is going to be between our characters. – Edward Kitsis

I’ve already mentioned Aladdin, we’ll also get to see Jasmine, Cinderella is returning to Storybrooke, and Captain Nemo will be visiting as well.  Be sure to tune in every week to see what other characters make an appearance.

Belle and Rumple Struggle with Love

One of my favorite story lines I’m looking forward to seeing the Belle and Rumple.  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie of all time and according to the executive producers Belle and Rumple’s story will be interesting to follow this season.

I think that Bell really kind of is in a place on where she’s given up on Rumple, but they are expecting 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. – Adam Horowitz

I wouldn’t say that she hates him though, like, it, I would say she hates him, I would say she’s severely disappointed and she seems very angry with him. – Edward Kitsis

And 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.

The Creative Vision for the Show

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. And 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. – Edward Kitsis

The Story of Jekyll and Hyde

Jekyll’s backstory is going to be much more of the origin of Jekyll and Hyde.  I think that what he knows is being the warden of the Land of Untold Stories from inmates whisper. We’ll explain hopefully to your satisfaction how he knows what he knows, but that’s less important about who he is than about what we’re exploring with him than-than his kind of background and how he became who he is.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 PM on ABC, be sure to tune in weekly to keep up with your favorite Storybrook characters and to meet some of the new characters coming to the show.