The big buzz for this season, and just about all everyone kept talking about, for Once Upon a Time is the addition of the Disney’s Frozen main characters to the cast. Seriously, just about every other question was about it. I almost felt bad for the talent having to answer question after question about characters that they have had very little interaction with yet! They took it in stride though and did their best.

Q: In Frozen, there’s a parallel between Elsa learning to control her magic and Emma learning to control her magic with Love being the primary element

Jennifer Morrison (‘Emma’) – Absolutely that’s part of what’s been fun for us with those characters in general with how many metaphors cross over between what’s going on in their storyline and what’s been going on in all of our storylines for the last three years. You definitely see a similarity between Elsa and Emma in that sense. I’ve been enjoying it, as I’m reading more scripts, I’ve been really touched that Emma finally has someone who understands her that isn’t family, this is her first friend. Someone who finally connects with her and  —

Colin O’Donoghue (‘Hook’) **interrupts** …Hook’s her friend?!

~Which got the whole table giggling and blushing~

Jennifer Morrison – Well, “special” friend!

Q: On the subject of Hook and Emma’s relationship:

Colin O’Donoghue – I do think that Emma and Hook have a deep connection, further than has been explained yet. At the end of the day, he’s still a pirate and he’s spent hundreds of hundreds of years being a pirate. So it’ll be fun to see what kind of shenanigans they’ll get up to.

Q: When it was announced that Frozen was going to be a part of the show, there’s been a frenzy, how has that affected the feel on the set?

Jennifer Morrison – It feels like they’ve always been a part of ‘our world’, which is a credit to what Eddie and Adam have done (Executive Producers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz) storytelling wise. But it’s also been fun to have a fresh story that’s been infiltrated into what’s been going on, it’s been a brave move! They’ve taken a risk by adding in these characters that are so new! It’s brought a fresh energy and it fits right in!

Colin O’Donoghue – And they (the actresses) also are an uncanny resemblance!

Jennifer Morrison – EVERY TIME I LOOK AT THEM I’m like, “THEY LOOK JUST LIKE THE MOVIE CHARACTERS!” It’s freaking me out! **laughs**

(Even The Evil Queen couldn’t get away from talking about the new characters!)

Lana Parrilla (‘Evil Queen’/’Regina’) – There are similarities between Regina and Elsa, and Elsa and Emma. Elsa can’t really control her magic yet, and Regina can to some degree but she’s still a very temperamental woman who’s very impulsive and reactive. So there’s that, but she knows how to control her magic. You’ll see, there’s some sort of parallel that I can’t divulge!

Writer’s note: Lana Parrilla (‘Evil Queen’/’Regina’) has had quite the story arc these three years, from being the ultimate evil queen, to now a force for good – ish. The Evil Queen/Regina character has become one of the most “human” characters, for me, in OUAT. Showing all the sides of her, the complex situations and the choices she’s made rather than just being “The Bad Guy”.  She was asked, as an actor what it’s been like having to portray EQ/Regina.

Lana Parrilla – Dizzy! **laughter** I really enjoy it because it keeps me interested and on my toes! I’m NEVER bored and television, if you’re playing the same role for a long time and there’s no real arc; thankfully we have brilliant writers who know what they’re doing! They keep me interested! She’s always revealing a new color, or a struggle, I LOVE her struggle! I love that she’s constantly in conflict; it’s fun to play!

Attending his first SDCC, Jared S. Gilmore was very excited to talk, especially after such a crazy season last year but who’s to say what “Henry” has got for this year?

Jared S. Gilmore (‘Henry Mills’) – We JUST started filming, so I haven’t gotten to read many of the scripts yet, but every week when I DO get to read them, I get really excited!

Edward Kitsis (EP) & Adam Horowitz (EP) on including Frozen into their mix:

We were very inspired by the movie! As a staff, we all got together and started “wouldn’t it be cool?’ and throwing ideas out and finally after so many, it was just like “What if we GET it??” and we were lucky enough for Disney to say “ok!” and then we were terrified!!! Because we understood that the very next thing, once it was released to the public, was an attitude would be “They better not screw it up” and every night we go to bed wondering “Did we screw it up?? But we did our best and you’ll see soon enough!!” **laughter**

Lana Parilla 2

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