Well, that’s that.
Yesterday, ABC announced that they were renewing Once Upon A Time for a 7th season, and today, they’ve announced a little bit of what that seventh season will look like.
TVLine is reporting that the new season will center on Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle and Colin O’Donoghue, in addition to newcomers Andrew J. West (The Walking Dead) and Alison Fernandez (Jane the Virgin), both of whom will debut in Sunday’s two-hour season finale.
That means that, on top of the already announced departure of Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Jared Gilmore, Rebecca Mader and Emilie de Ravin will not be returning to the ABC drama.
Which begs the question of what, exactly, are show-runners and series creators Kitsis and Horowitz planning to do with Season 7. How do you continue Regina’s story without the son that was, effectively, the reason for her redemption? How do you tell Rumple’s story without the woman who was always his only reason for goodness?
How do you tell Hook’s story without his true love, his wife, the love of his life?
We don’t really know – and though information is yet scarce and the show might still put a trick of two from under it’s sleeves and surprise us, right now we don’t really want to know. We need a moment to grieve.
Either way, Once Upon A Time, as we know it, ends this Sunday. And we’re going to miss it.
Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.