Welcome to the latest instalment of our most recent blog series Top Tens, which is posting roughly every Sunday night, Australian time (or in this case, early Monday morning. Last week I shared my top 10 favourite movie superheroes; this week I am making the top 10’s a bit more specific- I will be talking about one of my favourite TV shows Once Upon A Time, and my top 10 new characters I would like to see on Once Upon a Time in the 4th Season and beyond.
There are spoilers and speculation ahead so beware!
For those of you, who don’t have a clue of what Once Upon a Time is about; stop reading soon! You can catch up on all of the 66 episodes on Hulu, or on iTunes, or on DVD (or online if you prefer to view the episodes that way), but let me give you a quick non-spoilery run down of the series just so that we can all get up to speed. Basically the story follows the protagonist Emma Swan, originally living as a bails-bond person in Boston, who is approached one night by a boy named Henry who claims to be her son that she gave up years ago. He also claims to be from a town called Storybrooke, which is really cursed for the past 28 years by the Evil Queen, who’s his adoptive mother. The series then takes Emma and Henry to Storybrooke, where she stays for an extended period of time, and becomes the sheriff, all the while entertaining and humouring Henry’s beliefs that she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and also destined to break the curse to bring back all the happy endings, of all the people living in Storybrooke, who are fairytale characters also. Soon enough, Emma starts to believe Henry, and from then on the drama really starts. And this is where the spoilers start, so if you haven’t seen the show, I suggest you watch at least some episodes first before reading on!
That’s the synopsis for the pilot episode in a nutshell, which aired in October 2011, and since then, the town of Storybrooke has evolved, with the curse being broken and Emma navigating all of her relationships in her life, including with her parents Snow and David, as well as her complicated sometimes antagonistic friendship with Regina, Henry’s other mother. There are plenty of loved fairy tale as well as original characters (in fact I think sometimes to many!) that Once Upon A Time has introduced. You can read the full list of the characters here, but here’s a quick list of some important characters in the series:
- Snow’s best friend Red
- Henry’s therapist Archie Hopper aka Jiminy Cricket
- Henry’s father and Rumplestiltskin’s son Neal
- a grown up Pinocchio known in the real world as August
- Emma’s current boyfriend Killian “Hook” Jones
- the free spirited optimistic and jovial fairy Tinkerbell
- Regina’s true love and soulmate Robin Hood
- Rumple’s power hungry father Peter Pan
- Regina’s half sister Zelena The Wicked Witch Of The West
Seeing that Season 4A is featuring a host of characters from the Frozen movie which released in December 2013 (inclusive of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Sven– yes an actual live reindeer!) who will interact with the Storybrooke characters and possibly intersect with many storylines, and the villain from Season 4B has been announced, with Maleficent returning, as well as some Princess and the Frog rumours and Belle’s mother being cast as well; I thought this week’s top ten’s would be fun in revealing my top 10 new characters that I would like to see in the show’s near future, that would make sense. So without further ado…
Bambi– Sven’s cousin (or other relative), or a friend of Red’s when she’s a wolf, the possibilities are endless here! Would he talk, would he be a human in Storybrooke? Maybe as a love interest for Red?
Tarzan– We all know Graham/The Huntsman was raised by wolves or other animals of some sort (or so we were told in Season 1), perhaps Tarzan, who was raised in the wild as well, could pop up as Graham’s brother or best friend? Graham hasn’t been mentioned since season 1 and this could be a great way to keep his name in the OUAT universe!
Bolt– Archie’s pet dog is Pongo, and we don’t any of Pongo’s backstory at all! Maybe he was a human in the EF, but if he was still a dog, maybe he was friends with Bolt? Then again talking animals doesn’t seem to be OUAT’s style so, maybe not… Or maybe Bolt could be Henry’s dog from New York during that missing year than turns up in Storybrooke as he misses his owner?
Cruella DeVil– On that note of Pongo, it would be criminal if Cruella DeVil, maybe a former best friend of Regina and Maleficent, didn’t make an appearance. If Pongo was a person, I’ve got a storyline- maybe she could be a jealous nanny of Pongo’s when he was a kid, and as payback, could have turned him into a dog, and then Archie found him? Let’s chew on that for a second…
Shang– We know Mulan joined Robin Hood’s merry men in Season 3, but she was nowhere to be found when Zelena brought the rest of the EF to Storybrooke in her curse. Did Mulan leave Robin Hood’s men to find herself? If Mulan appears later on in the show, Shang has to be with her, and her love interest. Now is Shang male or female? I’m not sure, I guess it’s up to the writers…
Flynn Rider– We have seen Rapunzel in the Enchanted Forest when David helped her overcome her fears, so why not introduce her love interest Flynn Rider? Who knows maybe he, Eric, Phillip and Thomas, who have previously been introduced, could have been best friends back in the EF…
Aladdin and Jasmine– With Once Upon A Time In Wonderland being cancelled in April this year, and the fate of big bad Jafar in limbo, as he is trapped in a genie bottle, as well as Agrabah being introduced as a fictitious town (in Wonderland or the Enchanted Forest?), it makes sense that Aladdin and/or Jasmine would make an appearance or more, especially if Jafar transitions over to the parent show in Season 4 or 5. Perhaps Aladdin could be Jafar’s new master?
Merida– This Disney/Pixar Scottish princess is basically a given (in OUAT, she doesn’t have to be Scottish)- the creators expressed interest in bringing her over a while back, so I guess it’s a matter of time. As to who she’s related to, maybe Aurora or Grace and the Mad Hatter?
Winnie The Pooh– Just because Olaf isn’t appearing in Season 4A (which I’m not buying until all 11 episodes air!), doesn’t mean that all CGI characters should be dismissed… as long as they fit with the story. And with that, why not Winnie The Pooh be introduced? Robin Hood was in the EF, as Sherwood Forest was a forest in the EF kingdom, and maybe Hundred Acre Wood was a few suburbs away? I’m stumped as who Pooh would have known in the EF- maybe Christopher Robin may pop up and be a mentor to Henry? Any ideas?
Merlin– We all know Rumple was not the first Dark One, and even though he is powerful, we know he is not the biggest bad. Not even his father Peter Pan was truly evil- he was a coward, but still could have been good if he wanted to. Perhaps Merlin could be introduced as Malcolm’s (Peter Pan’s) father, or the mentor of Zoso, the dark one before Rumple. Nonetheless, Merlin’s appearance could make him good or bad, and since Lancelot has appeared in this series, it makes me very interested and intrigued as to what happens here- maybe it was he who resurrected Maleficent (and he could he her father?)?
Others who could fit into Storybrooke…maybe: Mowgli, Pochahontas, Quasimodo, Ralph, Woody, Buzz, Jack Sparrow, Simba, Remy, Scrooge
So there are my top ten new characters I would like to see on Once Upon a Time in the 4th Season and beyond, what are yours, if you have seen the show? Let me know so that we can compare and have a healthy discussion…