Once Upon a Time Season 7: Get Fresh Details on Henry's 'Epic Quest' — 

‘s new time slot for Season 7 — where it will lead off Fridays at 8/7c (leading into

) — ABC also let slip new details about the set-up for this narrative “reset,” which revolves around a grown-up Henry (played by

Once Upon a Time‘s Jennifer Morrison Weighs In on Henry Twist (‘People Should Have Faith’), Fave Storylines

After six seasons, the residents of the Enchanted Forest face their greatest challenge yet as The Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla), Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) join forces with a grown-up Henry Mills and his daughter Lucy on an epic quest to once again bring hope to their world and ours. Along the way, fairy tale characters new and old search for true love, find adventure and once again take sides in the struggle of good against evil, as classic tales are once more twisted and reimagined.

RELATEDOnce Upon a Time Bosses Break Down Finale’s Closure-Filled Montage, Tease [Spoiler]’s Season 7 Adventure

UPDATE: On Tuesday afternoon at ABC’s Upfront presentation, ABC entertainment chief Channing Dungey touted Season 7 as a “reboot,” revealing that Hook, the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin “return but with new identities in a new city, facing a new curse.”

Explaining the series’ move to Friday, Dungey said on Tuesday morning, “

has done a wonderful job on Sundays of sort of ‘keeping the lights on’ against football [on NBC and CBS], but we’re really looking to see how that show will perform when it’s away from football for a little while.”

In the wake of a half-dozen major exits — including series lead Jennifer Morrison — 

Season 7 will run 22 episodes and count Parrilla, O’Donoghue, West, Fernandez and Carlyle among its series regulars.

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Oh I did not remember and I swear I read that article a thousand times looking for a confirmation lol thanks for the reply! So happy :)

I confirmed it just minutes ago with the head of ABC.

It sounds like they will be out traveling the Realms. Maybe on the Jolly Roger?

They really should have ended the show withe the finale. It was great and tied up the loose ends.

They were so close to having me watching s7. Though they lost me when putting old along with new looking for true love. There are hardly any old characters left to be looking and i can’t watch one of those possibly looking for TL be Hook cause had that and seemed to get happy beginning with his TL. i mean i know Jen won’t be back so we won’t see Emma minus the premiere but still. Regina i could go for trying to find a new love.

There are so many excuses they could try for having Emma not be around besides killing her off. Personally, I’m betting Hook, Regina and Rumple are somehow sent to the future accidentally and they’re trying to get back home. Or maybe Emma goes missing and those three try to find her, and that’s how they’re sent to the future. Or she could even be turned into a swan and Lucy’s bringing Henry back to break the curse. There are six cast members leaving, they’re not gonna kill ALL of them off so why does this spell death for Emma? Adam and Eddy knew Jen was leaving in January, they wrote the finale in March. If they wanted to kill her off they would’ve done it last Sunday. I think it’s safe to say she’s safe. They’re not gonna have her come back from death in the finale, only to kill her off in the season premiere. Plus such a major death would never, ever be in a premiere. Especially one so risky.

Don’t think you can rarely compare a show about the zombie apocalypse with a show about fairy tales. And really, one of the TWD premiere deaths technically happened in the finale, they just didn’t show who it was.

The walking dead is a show about zombies. You could’ve just as easily said “Ever seen Game of Thrones?” And you’re comment would’ve been just as meaningless. Once has only had 3 major deaths in 6 years.

I’m guessing some epic quest to get back to their families. I mean, not only do we have Hook without Emma, but we have Rumple without Belle (and without his son). So…something has to have gone wrong there.

I don’t think a whole season of them trying (and failing) to find Emma would be interesting at all, especially when we KNOW Jen’s not going to do more than one ep.

PSA: Prince Charming was originally going to die, in the pilot episode.

You are aware that Henry counts as an “old character” who, by the very fact that he has a daughter, is going to have to have the story of how he met her mother told, right?

their are a lot of old characters left. their just not series regulars… theirs been countless number of fairy tale characters on the show through the years. it could be any of them.

I wonder if we should be reading into the fact that they refer to them as “the Evil Queen” and “Rumplestiltskin,” instead of as “Regina” and “Mr. Gold.”

It’s probably how they promote the show saying the fairytale elements of the characters lol

Fair enough, potential new viewers would be more familiar with their fairy tale names than they would be with their Storybrooke names.

I love for them to write Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Hook/Killian Jones ;)

This show is gonna have such a big void, because Emma Swan is not there. She was lead/protagonist. I will miss her each week. Heroine of the show and one half of the most popular couple.

Does this mean we might get more of Ruby and Dorothy? August? Cinderella? And other characters that have been sidelined. Or are the actors all busy and that’s why we never saw much of them to begin with. Curious

these characters were never series regulars ONLY guest stars (so its not about sidelining them) if they fitted in a story thats it and if they were free for those overall too. It was never about them lol. And these actors find other work and so on, they only guests

* oh even though Ruby was a series regular i believe in season 1 (and season 2 maybe)… she kinda felt a recurring secondary character compared to Emma, Snow, Charming, Regina, Rumple and also Hook.

She was recurring in Season One and bumped up to regular in Season Two, which is apparently the kiss of death on this show. Look at Will being added as a regular in Season 4, then disappeared. Robin and Zelena were both added as regulars in Season 5, and Robin was killed that same season and now Zelena is not returning. Only Hook became a regular and stayed.

@brennan – Well Hook became a series regular before his first episode even aired. (The showrunners were impressed with Colin. And also Hook was a character they had wanted in/since season 1, but apparently did not get the rights in time, and waited till season 2)

@Val: I was talking about regulars added after season one, and he’s the only regular added in season two onwards to stay.

She was promoted to Series Regular in Season 2 where they set the precedent of promoting recurring characters only to majorly sideline them or kill them off entirely (See: Neal, Will, Robin)

What does it matter that they were guest stars? They still count.

Hmmm, well my interest is piqued, I’ll give them that much…

I do wish they’d lay off the “epic” everything, I’ve not seen a lot of epic on Once in quite some time.

This is a test of viewer loyalty. I do wish they would just announce it as the final season, but I have a feeling they’re still hoping it the reset will be a success but I’m sure deep down they’re doubtful. Maybe the lower standards for Friday nights will give us chances of an eight season after all, as long as the ratings stay steady?

They want to see how it performs away from football? Sounds like those 22 eps will get cut pretty quick if it drops anywhere below what it’s doing right now.

I suspect they announce pretty quickly it’s ending with Season 7, so they can promote the mid season return as “the final episodes”.

If it was going to be the final season, it would have already been announced as such when they renewed it.

Also, contrary to what “live” ratings might suggest, the series remains incredibly popular, successful, and viable as a property of significance, and is likely to remain so.

I would not comission more than 13 episodes ;) I devoted 6 years, but I’m done now.

No problem! OUAT Fridays. If I know where to find it, I will watch it! And so happy to hear we will have a full season of 22 episodes 😊!!💕

I’m not really sure why people are acting like OUaT getting a full season pick-up of 22 episodes is such a revelation, since every article I saw confirming the fact that it had been renewed for a seventh season a few days ago mentioned the fact that ABC had given it a full 22 episodes straight off the bat.

Some people might not have read the whole article and missed it or read it but missed it

Regarding the new information from ABC’s President about a new Curse, I think it’s safe to assume that, although this might be the “status quo” when the season begins, it won’t remain so for very long.

On one hand…not so sure about this. On the other hand, the snark and arguments between those three ought to be amazing.

You know, I was a skeptic, absolutely LOVED the finale and am totally ready for the reboot. Let’s do this!

Good move, OUAT wasn’t working on Sundays anymore and that day is very difficult, because there are lots of popular shows airing that day and competing with it, Fridays is a more relaxed day and I think it can do better. Glad they show is returning and with 22 episodes.

I loved loved Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and was very sad to see it go off air. But then Once Upon a Time became my new favorite and I’m almost emotional seeing it end. I’m thrilled to see it still alive Albright a new spin on it with some of my favorite actors. Really going to miss Jennifer Goodwin and Jennifer Morrison, Jared Gilmore and Rebecca Mader.

New identities? I hadn’t even considered that, but it just might be the trick that makes the absence of Emma et al make sense. Could Colin, Lana, and Robert be playing entirely new characters? Unlikely based on the description that calls them Hook, the Evil Queen (not Regina?!) and Rumple. Or will they just not know that they’re really Hook, EQ, and Rumple because of a curse? Now I’m intrigued.

I was surprised no one else picked up on this. They won’t be the same people who were on the old seasons so they can date or hang out with anyone. Just the spirit of their characters will return. That is the only way this new season would work. If someone let go full time comes back it will be the same. They will be a new version not the ones from season 1-6. That story is over for good as it should be

If that’s true, how can they show Rumple’s past without Belle? unless it’s the fifteen year gap they will flashback to..? how exciting can fifteen years in Storybrooke really be? Regina & Rumple from the Enchanted Forest has been done, with Regina, to death! My brain hurts…

I loved loved once upon a time in wonderland and was really sad to see it go off the air. But then once upon a time became my new favorite and now I’m almost emotional seeing it end. But I’m thrilled that it will still be somewhat alive athough it will have a new spin, but I’ll still be able to enjoy my favorite actors. I will certainly miss Jennifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Rebecca Mader and Jared Gilmore.

I think that james dornin should be cast as a new character and be able to go against the evel queen for what she did to him.

I’m so excited for this reboot I can barely take it. (And since it will be about HENRY and Emma won’t be present to be parent number two, maybe they can bring back Neal! Who knows?)

Still cannot figure out, why ABC renewed OUaT. While it had its problems, the S6 finale was the end. Not every story needs a sequel, nor are people interested in one. This reboot for S7 sounds like a complete disaster. As the saying goes…. all good stories must come to an end.

I’ve watched the series from day one and was in aww at the amazing way these writers tied in the multiple fairytales and the spin off with once upon a wonderland giving Will Scarlet a double identity between the shows was amazing. I can’t wait to see the twist and new fairytale

tie-ins they put together for Henry. I wonder if Henry married the girl from the King Arthur’s Realm and was possibly fighting Malificents Daughter being the dragon? Could make a very interesting start to another curse because that would certainly drag in Regina , Gold, & Hook ….

If Hook is going to play a new character are they going to give him a new hand . Hard not to notice a man walking around with a hook for a hand .

Soooo …. umhhhh …. in season seven of “Once Upon a Time Colin, Lana, & Robert WON’T be playing Killian, Regina, or Mr Gold & they WON’T but as their new identities and they WON’T be living in Storybrooke ( Seattle I’m guessing ) but Hook, the Evil Queen, & Rumple will appear in flashbacks as their Enchanted Forest selves.

Sounds like it… this will take some getting used to.

So basically they aren’t sure of a reboot and want to give the Sunday prime time spot to a new line up? Ehhh fine. At least I have time to watch it on Fridays or DVR it and watch it Saturdays.

Just waking up to the new information, um, what? “new identities” this could either be very clever or incredibly lame.

On the other hand, all three of those characters have never been seen cursed, so it could work, Rumple remembered all along, he just played his cards close to his chest. Killian was in another realm, Regina cast the first curse so she knew too.

I think I’m now getting why these three are the three they wanted to stay.

It does sound radically different, I’m not sure what Buffy would’ve been without the town of Sunnydale, can Once survive without Storybrooke?

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