I think maybe I saw the info about Belle coming back for season 2 in a Tweet from Kitsis or Horowitz?? It’s been awhile – I can’t remember. It was right after Skin Deep aired when they were all blown away by how much everyone loved the episode and I think they were waiting to get confirmation on Emilie de Raven’s schedule and contracting and then they announced that she would be back for the season finale and for season 2. For some reason I’m thinking it was a Tweet or a series of Tweets but, like I said, it’s been awhile so I can’t remember. I can try to go back and search for it.
As for the popularity of Belle and Rumple – I think many people found it “strange” that they used Rumple as the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast story initially. But once people saw how it played out I think most people understand why they did it. But, I will say (aside from the fact that I am one of the people that LOVE the two of them together) it does appear that, at least amongst those who get involved on the on-line OUAT sites, the Rumbelle pairing seems to be the most popular so far. Of the episode ratings so far Skin Deep seems to be the most popular by leaps and bounds. There are definately people who don’t like the two of them together – I agree that it seems to be people who want Rumple and Emma together or the people who tend to not like ANY relationships on TV shows (like the ones who can’t stand it when two characters get involved on one of the crime drama shows and refuse to watch anymore). Some of the sites I have seen are oddly obsessive though – Rumbelle porn falls into that category for me anyway. 😕
I guess I fall into the category of people that trust that the writers know what they are doing and as much as I would hate to see them kill off Belle, if they do it I would have to trust it is because they have something better in mind down the road. Sometimes they are also at the mercy of the actors who are cast in a role. Nothing is worse than in the days of the soap opera when a random actor would come on screen and you’d be like “Who the heck is this guy??” and a voice over would say “The part of Steve will now be played by Joe Smith.” That NEVER works, so in that case I would rather have them kill someone off instead of re-casting a role and having to try to pretend that a new actor or actress is someone that they really aren’t. But, short of scheduling difficulties, I do think they tend to look at what the audience likes. And right now with Rumple/Belle being so popular and the series JUST getting started I can’t imagine they would decide to kill off a character that is one half of the most popular coupling on the show. I know they did something like that on LOST before, but if I recall didn’t that actor actually have some kind of health issue he was dealing with in real life?? I didn’t watch LOST but remember everyone being shocked about it.