Okay, I’ve got an idea…and I’m probably way off.
Maybe Rumple is on the gurney in the hospital scene in the promo. They can work around him and not actually show him if he’s unconscious. Then maybe, or maybe not, when he comes back off vacation they can record some hospital scenes and edit them into the final cut. On Soaps when actors go on vacation they put them in the hospital for a while. 😛
Fits into my headcanon that Rumple is now human. I mean, he has to turn mortal at some point or him and Belle cannot live their lives together. She, and everyone else, would eventually outlive him. He needs to shed this curse an now is the perfect opportunity.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.