The ABC series Once Upon a Time is back with new episodes, as Emma (Jennifer Morrison), Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and the Charmings attempt to fight the Savior’s fate. At the same time, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) and Gold’s (Robert Carlyle) son, Gideon (Giles Matthey), is making his dark intentions in Storybrooke known, while Regina (Lana Parrilla) tries to determine whether Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) would have been better off never having known her.

During this phone interview with Collider, showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis talked about the themes being explored in these new episodes, fun alternative reality versions of the characters, finally revealing how Emma got the last name of Swan, whether there’s a way to change the fate of the Savior, the huge threat that Gideon represents, whether there’s still hope for a happily ever after for Rumple and Belle, Regina’s connection to Robin Hood, what’s next for Henry (Jared Gilmore), what viewers can expect from Tiger Lily, and what a possible Season 7 might look like.

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Image via ABC

Collider: It’s always fun when fans get to see alternative versions of characters that they love, and one of the most fun in this episode is Hook. How did you come to the look for him? Did you just want to torture Colin O’Donoghue and give his fans a good laugh?

EDDY KITSIS: We don’t want to torture Colin. The thing is that Colin was so game for it, and I think you see that in his performance. We loved the idea of Hook aging, getting a big pot belly and letting himself go, but still believing he’s as hot as he was, in the height of his guyliner days. We wrote it, but Colin just elevated it. He just went for it. What’s funny is that we had lots of takes in the editing room where Jennifer [Morrison] and Eion [Bailey] would just literally laugh in the middle. They couldn’t even respond to him, but he would just stay in character.

With the return of new episodes, what are the main themes and ideas you’re looking to explore, and what are the big questions we should be asking ourselves now?

KITSIS: The big themes for the second half of the season are belief and fate, what is a happy ending, and do the ends justify the means. We’re asking the big life questions that we all do, in how they relate to our characters.

We get to learn a bit more about Emma’s backstory, in this episode, and how she came to choose the last name of Swan. Was that something that you always knew and just weren’t sure where to fit that in? And why was this a good time to finally reveal that?

KITSIS: We always wanted to save that for later.

ADAM HOROWITZ: It becomes a question of when, in the storytelling, does it feel right. It felt like we were at a place where Emma is really dealing with who she is. That’s been her journey. Since the start of the season, we’ve been dealing with what it means to be a Savior, and all of that.

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Image via ABC

KITSIS: And six seasons of the show have now led us to understand that she’s become the swan. She may have the last name, but when the pilot opened and Henry knocked on her door and she made that lonely wish that she wouldn’t be alone, she still felt like the Ugly Duckling there. I feel like, in the premiere that people will see on Sunday night, we see the Swan.

What can you say about Emma’s journey, in this portion of the season?

KITSIS: Emma’s journey is going to test her on every level, emotionally and physically. She’s going to be facing a prophecy where she is fated to die. She has seen a path of what she would look like not being the Savior, and she knows that’s not who she is. But part of being a hero means other people’s happiness comes before your own. There’s a certain amount of happiness in Emma’s life, and I think she finds that unfair, as well. So, the yin-yang of life that we all deal with, Emma is really dealing with it, but it’s very heightened in the second half of the season.

Now that we know Emma is fated to die, is there any way to get around that? Is that set in stone, or is there an out clause?

KITSIS: That’s what the second half is going to be. That’s something that hangs over everything. It is the metaphor for life. We all know that eventually it’s theoretical, but Emma has been moved up a little sooner. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen, but it might happen. How she gets ready for it is really a part of what the second half is.

Will we see happier times for Emma and Hook, in the near future? Will they be taking on this new challenge together?

KITSIS: We will see happier times. Even when the show is at its darkest or most intense, we always find the hope and we always find the fun. The entire show started with a wedding that was interrupted by the Queen, and today, they’re all best friends. That’s what we do.

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Image via ABC

We learn that Gideon is going to be a big problem for Emma. Just how big of a danger will he present for her survival?

KITSIS: He is going to present a huge threat to her survival. What’s interesting in the premiere for the spring is that he’s already causing a rift between Rumple, Belle and the Charmings. Right away, he’s splitting the town up and the heroes up and putting them on opposite sides, which is already threatening.

Does Gideon’s dark quest to become the Savior give you the opportunity to more deeply explore the Savior mythology?

KITSIS: We are going to discuss why he wants to become the Savior. We’re also going to get a lot of why he’s doing what he’s doing in his origin story.

What can you say about what we’ll see of the Black Fairy and how the Black Fairy turned Gideon into what we see now?

KITSIS: We’re gonna see all of that. We’re gonna see the Black Fairy’s origin story and what happened to Gideon. We’re gonna see how he went from a little baby in Episode 610 to a 28-year-old. So, we plan to show all the questions that hopefully fans are asking.

Will Rumple really have to look inside himself and evaluate how he got to this point, if he and Belle can do anything to set Gideon on a different path?

KITSIS: 100%. I think everybody is going to be asked to look inward, this season. We saw it first with Regina, who literally faced a version of herself. She tried to cut the darkness from herself, so she’s already asked the question of, can you remove the darkness from yourself? Emma is really focusing on what it means to be a Savior and how come the Saviors don’t get happy endings. And I think Rumple is going to have to look down deep. He may like dark magic and being the Dark One, but a lot of gangsters want their sons and daughters to be lawyers and doctors, and not follow them into a path of crime. So, everyone is going to be asked to look inward and figure out who they were, as well as Charming, who still wants to know what happens to his father and Hook, as he starts to think about the future.

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Image via ABC

For fans still rooting for Rumple and Belle to find their happily ever after, is there anything you can say to give them hope?

KITSIS: I would say that this is a show about hope. As we will see in this Sunday night’s premiere, although it seems Gideon wants to kill Emma, he is having the effect of bringing out the best in Rumple, and bringing Rumple and Belle closer together. Sometimes a shared goal can remind us of who we really want to be.

It’s heartbreaking to see Regina interact with Robin Hood, knowing that it’s not her Robin, but she still feels a connection to him. How is their relationship going to evolve, and will we continue to be reminded of the fact that this is a different Robin?

KITSIS: That’s exactly what it is. Regina cut the darkness from herself because she wants to move forward in her life. This Robin Hood is a real test in that. It is not the same Robin, and yet he’s there and he came through, for a reason. I think this is going to be a real test for her, in moving forward with what she wants to do in her life.

At the start of these episode, Snow is still sleeping. When might that change, and what role will she play, in these remaining episodes?

KITSIS: Snow is the heart of the show. We’ve known, since the beginning, that the belief in a happy ending can be very powerful. Her absence and David not waking her up is going to set him down a dark road to find out who killed his dad.

HOROWITZ: You have to remember that Snow is asleep and out of the picture. This is a curse where they alternate places. You’re going to be seeing both of them, in different ways, sometimes awake and sometimes not, dealing with this problem and trying to find a solution. They’re facing a new twist on the “I will always find you” challenge. They’ve been separated before, but not quite like this.

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Image via ABC

What’s to come for Henry? What can we expect to see with him?

KITSIS: Henry is growing up before our eyes. There are going to be moments where we really realize how he’s grown up and how he’s becoming a young man. We’ve seen Author Henry, but we’re going to have to call on him to be a hero again.

We know that we’ll be seeing Tiger Lily soon. What can we expect from your version of her, and how will she fit into the story you’re telling?

KITSIS: Like everything we do, hopefully it’s not what it appears. Tiger Lily and her backstory and why she appears, we think is a fun twist on what people are expecting. She’s going to come into the story in a couple of unexpected ways, but she’s going to have a big part in the second half of the season.

It’s been said that you’re looking at a potential seventh season as a springboard in a new direction for the show. What exactly does that mean, and what does that mean for your main cast, that the fans have grown to love?

HOROWITZ: There have been a lot of rumors that people have run wild with. If we’re lucky enough to have a Season 7, I don’t think it’s quite what people are imagining. Every year, we’ve reinvented the show.

KITSIS: We are going to complete some stories this year. There’s one chapter to this book that Henry has, so maybe it’s time for us to get to the end of that chapter. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a second book and a second chapter, just like in everyone’s life.

HOROWITZ: When we talk about completing something, it’s like how we started this show. A happy ending isn’t necessarily an ending. It’s a journey. A part of a story may end, but a new part may open. I think that’s more in the spirit of how we’re looking at things. Hopefully, we get the chance. We’ve got big plans for what we’d like to do, and hopefully we’ll get to do them.

Once Upon A Time airs on Sunday nights on ABC, and you can go to the show's site here for more info.

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Image via ABC
once-upon-a-time-season-6-premiere-interview
Image via ABC
once-upon-a-time-season-6-premiere-interview
Image via ABC
once-upon-a-time-season-6-premiere-interview
Image via ABC