‘Once Upon A Time’ producers talk last week’s killer episode, tease ‘game-changing’ season finale

Did you audibly gasp during this week’s episode of Once Upon A Time? Whether it was the citizens of Storybrooke exacting revenge on Regina (alas, it was but a nightmare) or Henry feasting on the most unfortunate baked good ever made, The penultimate episode of Once Upon a Time was full of shocking moments, but also a whole set of new questions that may or may not be answered in the finale: Will Henry survive feasting on the most unfortunate baked good ever made? Will Emma believe? Will Regina make good on her promise to Jefferson? Why does Mr. Gold want to break the curse? Which Avenger would Granny be? (Obviously, the Hulk.)

Exec producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have a few answers, although they don’t want to spoil any of next week’s major reveals (but maybe you can wring that out of them during their live Facebook chat tomorrow at 3 p.m. EST). For now, see what the imaginative duo has to say about the old faces and new surprises in store for Sunday’s season finale.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So after Henry’s little dilemma, shall we say, we’re going to see Regina and Emma team up. What’s their interaction like?
EDWARD KITSIS: Well, what we can say about it is they’re still enemies and at odds, but they now have found a common purpose throwing them together in the finale, and it’s an uneasy alliance. The antagonism between the two of them that started in the pilot continues to grow and boil in the finale.

Does Henry’s situation affect anyone else besides Emma and Regina?
ADAM HOROWITZ: I think what’s interesting is that it affects everyone, in a way. In this season, Henry — by bringing Emma into town — touched everyone’s lives in a real and meaningful way, in that he is a true believer and believes he can help these people. Him being in jeopardy definitely has an effect on everyone.

What will have to happen for Henry to wake up?
HOROWITZ: Well that we can’t tell you, because that would say he wakes up! All I know is this: magic is unpredictable in this world.

What’s happening in fairy tale land in the season finale? Snow’s eaten the apple, the gang finds her. Tell me about that rescue mission.
KITSIS: What we’re trying to do with some of this fairy tale stuff in the finale is kind of twofold, which is fill in a few of the blanks that we set up in the pilot this year, but also hopefully surprise you with something new about that story that you didn’t know.
HOROWITZ: If last week really focused on Snow White’s side of the story, this week will focus a lot on Prince Charming’s side of the story.

We’re also going to see the reappearance of Jamie Dornan as the Huntsman. How does he figure into the story?
HOROWITZ: It’s one of our favorite reveals.
KITSIS: We don’t want to spoil that other than to say that having Jamie back for the finale was really, really exciting and everybody was so happy to have him. It was really fun to do, and we can’t wait to see the audience reaction.

Will the finale change the make-up of the show? Will it be a jawdropper?
HOROWITZ: I think it will be.
KITSIS: We don’t want to anticipate what the audience is going to think or how they’re going to take it, but we can speak to how we as writers have approached it and what it’s done for us, and for us, it is a big game-changing kind of thing in terms of how we approach the show.

By the end of the episode, will Emma have decided whether she finally believes in fairy tales?
HOROWITZ: I would seriously say that question gets asked and explored.
KITSIS: We’ve been building it in the last two episodes particularly, exploring the nature of Emma’s relationship to the town and what’s going on with it, and that intensifies to a degree.
HOROWITZ: Obviously if [someone] came to you and said, “Hey, you’re the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, you need to save everyone from this curse,” you’d think they were crazy. For us, we really wanted to earn [Emma’s] belief and earn her arc based on who she is as a character and the way she grew up. We understand that there’s a frustration, but there’s also a reality and we think that the finale will really explore that.
KITSIS: It’s not easy for Emma, just like it wouldn’t be easy for any person from our world to deal with these kind of idea. One of the things we’re excited about with the finale is really rationing up the intensity on her.

Is Regina’s dream foreshadowing? Or was it just a dream? If she were to have Storybrooke turn on her, is that how it would play out?
KITSIS: I would say that it was definitely foreshadowing in the last episode, and I think that if you watch the finale and you go back, there will be a few things in there that will make people go, “Ahhh.”

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