ABC's Once Upon A Time shook up its premise in a huge way in the Season 6 finale. A time skip jumped the narrative ahead by years, and the final scene introduced us to an adult Henry unexpectedly meeting his daughter. Only a few regulars from Season 6 will be back for Season 7, but we now know that the show has some folks picked out to fill the ensemble. Once Upon A Time has officially cast two actresses as regulars and three actresses for recurring roles.
The two new regulars will be Dania Ramirez of Devious Maids and Gabrielle Anwar of Burn Notice. The recurring actresses will be Mekia Cox of Chicago Med, Rose Reynolds of Wasted, and Adelaide Kane fresh off of the series finale of Reign on The CW. Deadline reports that ABC is keeping character details secret for the time being, so we'll have to wait to find out more about who these five actresses will be playing.
The actresses certainly have some big shoes to fill. The Season 6 finale saw the departures of Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Emilie de Ravin, Jared S. Gilmore, and Rebecca Mader. Only Lana Parilla, Robert Carlyle, and Colin O'Donoghue are returning for Season 7, joining Andrew J. West as he tackles the role of the adult Henry.
A big question is where Once Upon A Time can possibly go moving forward. The show has already tackled the biggest fairy tales and more beloved Disney movies. Snow White and Prince Charming's story has already been told. We saw the show's version of the Beauty and the Beast story, watched a new take on Wizard of Oz, and even saw a twisted version of Peter Pan. We've had Elsa and Anna of Frozen, Aladdin and Jasmine of Aladdin, and even Hercules and Megara of Hercules. Either Season 7 is going to have to scrape the bottom of the Disney fairy tale barrel or go in a very different direction moving forward.
Of course, a Season 7 was never a sure thing, as Once Upon A Time was in danger of being cancelled. The sixth season averaged only 3.15 million viewers with a 0.94 in the valuable 18-49 ratings demographic in Live+Same day measurements, which marked a big drop from the fifth season. It should be interesting to see if the reboot of sorts results in viewers tuning back in when the show returns in the fall.
ABC has actually moved Once Upon A Time out of its Sunday time slot for Season 7. New episodes will air on Friday nights, which will pair Once Upon A Time first with Inhumans and then with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Swing by the ABC fall premiere schedule for the 2017-2018 TV season to discover when other ABC series will be back, and check out our summer TV guide for what you can watch nowadays.
