Rueben's Ramblings

Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis

Last weekend the annual WonderCon was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and among the many panels that were held throughout the three-day fete was a visit by the Executive Producers and Creators – Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis – of the new ABC fairytale drama Once Upon a Time.

Before these creative minds took the stage, the exuberant audience was treated to an early screening of last Sunday night’s episode “Heart of Darkness”. At the end of the episode, Horowtiz and Kitsis were greeted to a welcoming cheer from the audience and a brief Q&A.

Emma - Jennifer Morrison

They first came up with the idea for the show after finishing their work on the TV series Felicity. Kitsis shared, “we were sitting in my apartment, thinking about a pilot” (based on a suggestion by their agent) and they talked about the Evil Queen and how it would be horrible to be her, trapped in the Enchanted Forest where everyone has a happy ending and everything she does fails. As they thought more about what that world would be like, they thought “this would be a show we would want to watch”; but they had no clue how to do the show. In fact, Kitsis joked that “when you’re young writers in Hollywood and you pitch a show that has dogs, children, dwarves, fairies and wolves” the studios simply say “thank you” and send you on your way.

But thanks to their time on the ABC juggernaut Lost, they went to ABC/Disney with their long-standing idea and they were surprised that the studio “was amazing and supportive right away (with trying) to figure out this crazy idea”. And, given the fact they have made bold moves with characters from the fairytale world, they re-enforced that the studio “has been supportive of the show, allowing us to use our own takes on (the) characters, taking them to different places”. Kitsis even joked “we’ve been pretty much able to talk them into everything”.

Prince Charming - Josh Dallas

The men do have some characters on their wish list, including Peter Pan, Rapunzel, Mulan and Ariel and they are hopeful to have the opportunity to explore much more of Storybrooke, which they shared they believe “is a lot bigger than it seems”. And, they joked about the Lost Easter Eggs that have been hidden within many of the episodes such as 8:15 on the town’s central clock; Regina’s street address was 108 and Apollo candy bars. There will be more with Kitsis telling fans to “look up in the air”.

And while they couldn’t tease much of what to expect in upcoming episodes they were willing to share that the Huntsmen, aka Sheriff Graham (actor Jamie Dornan) will be back in the season finale, which started shooting this past week.

The audience then had their chance to ask some questions, including:

• Wanting to know if we will learn more about the book, where it came from and what, if anything, the book has to do with August (guest star Eion Bailey) to which they said, “we’re going to find out more about the book and much more about August…by the end of the season you will learn who August is, why he is here and pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted to know about him and two things you didn’t”;

• Figuring out who the Doctor (guest star David Anders) is in the fairytale world in which they shared they “know who the Doctor is and we have a plan (but) please be patient”;

• Wondering if the people in Storybrooke have false childhood memories or is everything more like a blank slate for them to which they shared “like Blade Runner the characters have implanted memories…but a lot of the time they are just a haze (to them)”; and,

Snow White - Ginnifer Goodwin

• Asking about how they came up with of the origin of the dwarves; being born fully-grown hatching out of eggs with beards and intelligence to which they shared that the idea culminated from a lunch they had with Lost Executive Producer Damon Lindelof. “We knew we wanted to do an episode about Grumpy and once they had the image of actor Lee Arenberg (who plays Grumpy) and an egg, that “image was in our heads (and) we just couldn’t shake it”.

The next new episode of Once Upon a Time will air tomorrow night, March 25 on ABC at 8 PM.