Do you think that the writers planned to have Hook be the one to end up with Emma right from the beginning when they introduced him? Or do you think they saw how much the fans liked him and switched the story to kill off Neal and begin Hook’s transformation into a better person so he can be worthy of Emma? Do you think they killed off Neal bc they felt they couldn’t really give Hook the full spotlight as Emma’s true love if Neal was still around? And if that’s true, do you really think they felt it was worth it to basically reset Rumple’s character by killing him off just so Hook could take center stage?
They absolutely planned them on ending up together in the beginning. The parallels to Snowing in their first adventure, the whole notion of paralleling Neal/Emma in the past with Hook/Emma in the present. Clearly was telling the audience, Neal is the past and Hook is the future and we were right.
I’m going to reveal a spoiler that I found out from one of my good friends over in Vancouver that knows a lot about the shows BTS. Neal’s death was going to stick in S2. The reason why Neal continued on to S3 and MRJ was promoted(even though he was fully aware that his contract was so they could tell the story they wanted to in S2B in S3). That does not mean Neverland. That was in reference to Rumple/Bae as well as Hook/Emma/Neal love triangle. It was going to play out in S2B. You wonder why S2B was such a mess, well there you go. The reason why they had to basically write a pause button till S3, was because Colin broke his leg. And was sidelined for more than half the arc. If he didn’t break his leg then what happened in S3A in regards to the love triangle and more Bae/Hook interaction would have happened in S2B. Neal’s death was going to stick in S2.
Why do you think the major focus in the love triangle was moreso Hook/Emma then Emma/Neal? All you got in regards to Emma/Neal was the cage scene which wasn’t really Emma/Neal and then the scene afterwards which had Neal tell Emma he wasn’t gonna give up which was in itself a load of BS. Because he wasn’t tested the way the others were and yet the scene ends on a close of Hook looking sad(so the focus of that scene was not Emma/Neal, but Hook/Emma again). Then in 3×10 with the whole Emma stood him up. The triangle wasn’t even a triangle. It was the Hook/Emma love story with Neal as somewhat of an obstacle. Killing him off when they did didn’t change that, the triangle was already resolved by then.
So these notions that ABC got involved and everything, wrong. Adam and Eddy gave Colin and JMO a chemistry test before they cast him as Hook. They said “oh shit” during the test and then they knew they had their story. That’s why Hook was promoted to series regular before his first episode even aired.
So yes Hook and Emma was always the plan, right from the start.