I think a new curse creating a new town is a bad idea though. I get the feeling its gonna take place in the real world and that the events of tomorrows episode are going to bring magic to our land. And of course, all magic comes with a price, so now its gonna be some serious bad juju going on.
It’s one of the only ways to conserve the happy endings of the past 6 seasons have these 3 people in the show while also being able to build us up for potential more seasons with new characters. It does work, will it? Probably not.
Plus if Rumple dies(which I’m pretty sure he’s going to) it means that flashbacks are very likely. And having these three only in flashbacks develops are new characters while also showing us familiar faces.
Alot of the articles state the focus will be on the new characters not the ones returning.