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Lana Parrilla Talks Once Upon a Time Twist: ‘It’s a Victory’ for Regina, ‘Yet There’s a Layer of Guilt’

And just like that, with the spin of a hat, Once Upon a Time‘s Mayor Regina Mills aka the Evil Queen (accidentally!) dispatched the two thorns in her side to “oblivion.” Yet Henry has now charged Regina with bringing back his birth mom Emma and Mary Margaret/Snow White. Easier said than done? During a visit to TVLine’s Times Square offices, Lana Parrilla previewed the obstacles standing in the way of Emma and Snow living happily ever after in Storybrooke again. (ABC’s Once airs Sunday at 8/7c.)

TVLINE | Coming out of the premiere, what range of emotions is Regina going through after Emma and Snow White fall through the portal?
There are mixed emotions. For one, she somewhat feels guilty, because that wasn’t her intention. Secondly, it’s almost kind of like a tiny, tiny celebration, because she’s been trying to get rid of these two women for so long! But how it happened… was not ideal. So it’s all a bit confusing for Regina because it’s something that is almost like a victory, and yet at the same time, there is a layer of guilt there. I think Regina is a really good person, at the core of her being, but circumstances changed her over the years.

TVLINE | As far as fixing the situation, is the fact that the hat is crushed a first roadblock?
Yes, for sure, because that was the only portal that they had in Storybrooke. Now that it’s destroyed, they don’t know how to get to this other world.

TVLINE | Can’t we just find Jefferson and have him make a new hat?
I think there is something special about this one hat. If we remember in Sebastian Stan’s [first] episode, Jefferson was making all these hats because he was trying to recreate that portal to get back. So there was something very special and unique about this one specific hat. Now they have to find another way to reach this other world, though I’m not quite sure how they’re going to do it.

TVLINE | We saw Regina come up empty the first time she went to use her magic and yet, after the portal sequence, she easily pinned David against the wall with the vines. What’s the difference there? Is it because Emma touched her? Is this Regina learning the lay of the new land?
That’s kind of left open for questioning… but I think it’s a combination of things. Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold is able to use a bit of magic in Storybrooke, but it doesn’t work the same way for Regina. But Jennifer [Morrison] and I, when we were doing that scene, we did play that [activating the hat] had something to do with her touching Regina, but again, we have this perplexed look on our face like, ‘Who did that?’

TVLINE | Henry has charged Regina with getting back Emma and Mary Margaret, but will Rumple’s vendetta against Regina prove a distraction?
It’s interesting because as we move forward, there isn’t a lot of full-on confrontation, like really getting down to it and saying, “Why did you send the wraith after me? What is this about?” And he doesn’t directly approach her about Belle. So the way I see it, there is so much that is unspoken between these two characters. In the second episode, Regina goes to talk to Mr. Gold — she needs something from him – but she never mentions the wraith. There is no dialogue about it. To me that indicates that either these two can never really kill each other and these are just threats, or they don’t talk about it because they’re just always going to try to trump one another.

TVLINE | Now that everyone in Storybrooke knows who they really are, we see that Ginny [Goodwin] has brought a bit of a regal air to her performance, Josh [Dallas] has a bit more swag. But since Regina has always known who she is, what subtle notes do you as an actress get to put in there?
Regina has always been very good at lying. She wears a mask. She plays a part. And now I don’t think she can anymore. So, you’re going to experience a much more vulnerable, exposed Regina. She starts to become very honest about who she is and the things that she’s afraid of and what she wants. She starts to confront herself and her inner demons in ways I don’t think she ever has.

TVLINE | How soon do we get to see you in Evil Queen regalia again?
I’m hoping very soon. I do miss it. There are some flashbacks, but what we [thus far] flash back to is young Regina. That’s juxtaposed with the Regina in Storybrooke because in Fairytale Land she’s starting to be come this evil queen, while in Storybrooke she’s softening. I love that contrast. That’s what these writers are so great at.

TVLINE | Have you had a chance to play anything remotely resembling a warm-ish moment with Regina and Henry yet?
Yes.

TVLINE | Can you tease what brings that about?
Nope!

TVLINE | Which of Season 2′s new characters do you get to interact with the most?
None. I have yet to act with any of them…. The portal has a lot to do with that.

TVLINE | I was a bit surprised by the fact that everybody in town doesn’t know who Dr. Whale is…
Yeah, David is like, “Who are you?” and they get very confrontational over it. There’s a reason for that. A lot of the fans are guessing, and that’s exactly what we want them to do. There are, I think, one or two characters that know who he is.

TVLINE | I have to think that there will be some new and/or surprising allies for Regina in Storybrooke this season. It can’t just be her against everybody.
There is one, and it is a fairytale character that we do know. So, you’ll have to keep watching!

http://tvline.com/2012/10/05/once-upon-a-time-season-2-episode-2-lana-parrilla/

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Surayya wrote: I still don’t get why Regina hasn’t up & said- Rumple made the curse- he started it all &even told me how to enact it, so I don’t know why you all want me dead yet want to work/deal with him? Yep she’d sound weaker than Rumple in that moment- but it would turn pretty much everyone against Rumple …On second thoughts, I guess if they did that we wouldn’t have much of a show to watch then lol

Good point. Regina needs to deflect some of the blame if she’s going to continue to survive. Plus, Rumpel has so far gotten off scot free (which he seems able to do because of that geourgous Scottish accent). 🙂 In many ways though, Rumpel is a bigger “baddy” than Regina, and yet his charm seems to make people trust him more. Regina’s a high-maintance witch with a bad attitude, whereas Rumpel comes across as a calculating, deal-making imp with clever loop-holes. It’s harder to pin down the blame on him, because he always keeps his deals (well except for that deal with his son). I doubt anyone other than Regina or Emma (and maybe the Blue Fairy) knows Rumpel designed the Dark Curse, but once people realize it, they may turn on him more.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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hjbau wrote: Does Frankenstein bring people back from the dead? I thought he just reanimated a corpse which is different then returning a soul to a body.

If Dr. Frankenstein tries to reanimate Daniel’s body per Regina’s request, I think it’ll be a botched experiment. Regina said in S1 that there was no bringing back the person she’d lost, which makes me think she tried and then failed miserably.

Gypsy wrote: Dr Frankenstein created life where there was none.

Exactly. Daniel’s reanimated corpse won’t really be the “true” Daniel. He’ll be a monster whom they have to kill again or who let’s himself die, as happened in the novel.

We may see Daniel’s true soul appear to Regina in SB as a ghost, which would make a highly interesting contrast with what happen in FTL that was.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Phee wrote: I think that what used to happen when you tried to leave SB is different to what happens now. When the curse was in place, I think something physically bad would happen to you, so Rumple probably thought that once the curse was lifted, that barrier would no longer exist. The fact that it now wipes your memory clean is a new development he hadn’t been expecting.

That’s an interesting thought, Phee. Rumpel/Mr. Gold must’ve thought that with the curse broken, he’d be able to leave town and go looking for Bae. Maybe introducing magic to our world actually had unintended consequences that even the maestro, Rumpel, didn’t foresee of making people lose all memory of their past life. I really want to know why he brought magic to our world though. Does he need magic to find Bae?

We know bad things happened when cursed characters like Ruby and Ashley tried to leave SB before Emma broke the curse. Ruby came back because Granny had a heart attack and Ashley went into labor. Yet, we didn’t actually see what happened if they physically crossed the boundary, except maybe one time. I’m wondering exactly what happened to David Nolan back in episode 1×16 (I think it was), when he was in the woods looking for Kathryn. Mary Margaret found him in a dazed-like state in which he didn’t seem to remember who he was or where he was, and then Ruby located him passed out. It’s like he was suffering the consequences of the dark curse, which Dr. Whale said was similar to when he’d just woken up from his comma. He seemed to lose his false SB memories while having some recall of FTL, but it was just a temporary black-out. He regained them soon after.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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The sign was put up by Studio 49 Ltd. (the company that produces OUAT in Canada). Also, Britannia Shipyard Heritage Park is in the City of Richmond, BC, which is right next to Steveston, the town setting of Storybrooke. This had better be Hook’s ship this time, and not filming for an unrelated commercial like the last time.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Maybe we’ll get to meet Tinker Belle in this episode! Adam and Eddy said she’s a character who deserves who own backstory.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Phee wrote: This “magic touch” of hers is fascinating to me. I’d never really expected her to have magical powers.Her parents weren’t magical, so I don’t see how it could have been in her genetic makeup. I always just figured her purpose was to break the curse, and that was her “magic”, but she couldn’t make with the hocus pocus stuff. But now there definitely seems to be more to her abilities

Yes, it’s very fascinating to me, too! How could Emma conduct magic if her parents don’t have it? Jefferson said she brought magic to Storybrooke. As you pointed out, Emma seemed to conduct magic to Regina, as if she were linking her to the magic already present in SB.

Jane Espenson said: But yes: Emma. Magic. Some sort of loop around those two words.

Thanks to Jane (and Phee), I think the answer can be found by linking the words Emma and Magic. I no longer just think Emma does magic. I think Emma is magic! 💡

It sounds strange at first, but Emma is True Love Incarnate, thanks to Rumpel adding a drop of the true love potion to the parchment on which the curse was written, making her the savior. And what is true love? True love is the most powerful form of magic. Thus, Emma is the most powerful form of magic. That is why when Emma touched Regina, she was able to conduct magic. That’s why, when Graham kissed Emma, he remembered. It’s not that either character is necessarily “in love” with Emma but more that fact that Emma herself embodies true love magic, which can break any curse. Also, I’m beginning to think the favor that Emma owes Rumpel could involve a transfer of magic (like a currency)! 😮

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Surayya wrote:Well we meet Henry's Dad in Ep 6 – it's just been confirmed by K&H!!! So we shall at least know if he's Henry's dad or not.

I’m so glad, too! It’s so nice to find out early on. 🙂

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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RumplesGirl wrote: Also: in that clip where Jefferson and Dr. Whale are jumping over a log/tree/something, did anyone else catch a glimpse Rumple??

Yes, they were running from Rumple! Now that is going to be an awesome trio! 🙂

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Jennifer Morrison gives a post-premiere interview in video form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYL0CWNdEAI&feature=player_embedded

Once Upon a Time’s Jane Espenson: Snow and Emma’s Journey Will Be a Long One

Once Upon a Time‘s Charming family reunion was painfully short-lived and that won’t change any time soon.

In last Sunday’s premiere, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) was sucked into a portal to what was left of fairy-tale land after the curse. Unwilling to lose her daughter again, her faithful mother Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) jumped in after her, sending them both directly into the clutches of presumed enemies Mulan (Jamie Chung) and Aurora (Sarah Bolger).

So now what? The journey back to Storybrooke will be a long one, according to consulting producer Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica), who penned this Sunday’s outing, in which we also learn the origin story behind Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Rumplestiltskin’s (Robert Carlyle) troubled relationship. Get the scoop:

For the writers, how hard has been it been balancing three story lines?
Jane Espenson: When we started the season with the three threads instead of two, we were all tentative. Will this work? It really quickly became evident that it was not just going to work, but it was going to step everything up. For the first time, you have story lines that are happening contemporaneous with each other. We always had those fairy-tale story lines from the past. We just felt this excitement when we got to the end of Episode 201, when we do that reveal that these two stories have been happening at the same time. We can still tell stories from the past, so we’ve got three different colors of story on the board; we write on the white board with different color ink. We’ve totally fallen in love with these stories.

In Sunday’s episode, we’ll see how Regina met Rumple, which kind of sounds like When Harry Met Sally… in a way, though I’m sure it’s very different.
Espenson: [Laughs] Can an evil queen and a wicked sorcerer be friends? They are the main focus of this episode, but there’s an awful lot going on in town with David (Joshua Dallas) as well. They’re sharing the spotlight. I’d listen carefully to what Rumple says about their first meeting. Maybe this is their first meeting, but maybe they go even further back.

For Snow and Emma, they’re enemies of this land because of the Wraith. How are they navigating those waters?
Espenson: They’ve got a lot of explaining to do. It’s not just about explaining that it’s not their fault, but where did they come from? Are they who they say they are? Who is that anyway? We don’t know what relationships Mulan and Aurora had with the characters that we’ve already seen from fairy-tale land. Will they know the name Snow White or not? Of course, Emma doesn’t know anything about this world. We handed them a big old of bouquet of obstacles to deal with. Not to mention, they’re dealing with charred fairy-tale land. I’m reminded of cinder Earth from Battlestar Galactica and what happens when you find the place you’ve been yearning for and it’s not what you thought it would be. It’s interesting for both sides. Aurora and Mulan are going to have to deal with who these people are, who they naturally blame for this terrible situation. And we have to deal with Snow and Emma, on the other hand, dealing with this strange world.

Nice Battlestar reference.
Espenson: We never say it explicitly in the room, and I don’t think [executive producers] Adam [Horowitz] and Edward [Kitsis] have made the parallel, but when we talk about fairy-tale land, I can’t help but think of cinder Earth. It’s not, in any way, narratively used in the same way, but I always think of that heart-dropping feeling of finding Earth and it’s cinder. It’s very evocative.

Going back, you mentioning Aurora and Mulan possibly not being aware of Snow White is a parallel to Whale (David Anders) telling Charming that he’s not his prince. Is that a geographical thing, or could that be Whale knowing that Charming wasn’t really the prince?
Espenson: I’ve heard a couple different interpretations of “You’re not my prince.” One being that he comes from a land that’s not fairy-tale land, another being that he comes from a different part of fairy-tale land and has an allegiance to a different prince. I hadn’t heard that one. That’s cool too. Whale gets more and more interesting, doesn’t he? I love that notion. That line is one of my favorite lines ever because it is so multiply interpretable. Obviously, we’re keeping the Whale mystery going. It is worth thinking about that line and all the different things it could mean.

Emma’s reaction to that line was also very strong. She’s really starting to realize her father is a prince!
Espenson: She has some amazing takes in these early episodes, where she’s just still reeling from this realization and taking in this new world. It’s not just intermittently heartbreaking — and the heartbreak on Snow’s face when she hugged her, my God, and Emma realizing that she’s found her parents and nothing that she thought was true is true — but it’s also funny because we’re dealing with this modern woman who’s dealing with these crazy things that are apparently true. Beyond that, these are things she’s read about in fairy tales throughout her life. It isn’t just, “My father’s a fairy-tale prince,” it’s, “My father is Prince Charming?!” That very notion is so comedically rich. Jennifer does such a great job of playing the comedy of it.

How soon will we get a sense of what the real danger is now in fairy-tale land?
Espenson: They will be on to the danger in Sunday’s episode; you’ll learn a lot more. Look, in particular, to the very ending of Sunday’s episode to get a glimpse at some real danger. It’s not just ogres. It’s so much worse.

Is part of that danger Hook (Colin O’Donoghue)? Are there people who have taken advantage of what this leftover world is?
Espenson: The new cinder FTL has a number of dangerous characters in it, let’s just say that. And yes, Hook is going to be introduced. Is there a line between those two? Sounds like a good guess to me.

FTL, aka fairy-tale land, made me think of Battlestar again!
Espenson: It all goes back to Battlestar. [Laughs]

How difficult will Emma and Snow’s journey back to Storybrooke be? Not only just the journey, but dealing with Emma’s feeling about Snow and Charming having given her up.
Espenson: Absolutely. It’s not just going to be Snow and Emma trying to get back, but obviously David trying to figure out how to get them back from the other side. We don’t know how possible that is. It’s not going to be easy. The first scene of Sunday’s episode is not going to be, “Oh look, I got the hat to work!” It’s going to take some real effort and I would look for that to not be resolved right away. We’ve put them in a very difficult situation and we’re not going to make it easy to get out of it.

And David can’t just turn to Jefferson (Sebastian Stan) to have him make a new hat?
Espenson: That is a very smart step to go to Jefferson. Does David know about Jefferson? I like that idea a lot and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Jefferson show up at some point because he would be very useful.

Speaking of the hat, Emma appeared to have a hand in starting it up in the premiere. What are the consequences of the fact that Emma can apparently do magic?
Espenson: Can she do magic? Or facilitate magic? Or conduct magic? That shot of her hand on the arm was certainly evocative. It was not meaningless. I wouldn’t take that to mean Emma can do magic. But yes: Emma. Magic. Some sort of loop around those two words. Again, the first scene of Sunday’s episode is also not going to be Emma making frogs appear. You’re on a very long journey with these characters.

To find out what the first scene of Sunday’s episode will be, tune in at 8/7c on ABC!
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Once-Upon-Time-Espenson-Season2-Spoilers-1054260.aspx

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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