In this Sunday's mid-season finale of Once Upon a Time, fanswill take a mini-breather before the next wave of evil roles into town.
If it's true that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned — we're terrified to see what happens when a trifecta of pissed-off ladies arrive in Storybrooke.
In this Sunday's mid-season finale of Once Upon a Time, fans must face the fallout from the Curse of Shattered Sight, and take a mini-breather before the next wave of evil roles into town.
ETonline had an exclusive chat with the frightfully fantastic Lana Parilla to get the inside scoop on Regina's "difficult" relationship with Robin Hood, the abrupt arrival of The Queens of Darkness, and if her former friends can persuade her back to the dark side.
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ETonline: The Queens of Darkness — Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil — are making their dark debut this Sunday. What should fans know before meeting these women?
Lana Parilla: They are equally fabulous, and equally have incredible costumes. I think the audience is really going to gravitate towards these characters because they're some of our favorite villains and they're women. This show just has such incredible women and now we have three more coming to the show, so it's going to be a lot of fun for the audience to get to know them. We'll definitely get an insight into how we've met, how we've known them from Fairytale Land, and what our relationships were like. It's going to be fun.
We've seen that Regina has a past with Maleficent and Ursula, but are we going to learn of any connections with Cruella De Vil as well?
LP: Yes you will. They have crossed paths in the past and these are all women that she knows very well, very deeply. She is closest to Maleficent — she and maleficent were dear friends at one point. So I think it's going to be a bittersweet reunion for these four women.
Regina has successfully transitioned from a villain to a hero, but will these ladies cause her to question her choices?
LP: I love the whole heroes versus villains idea — I think it's phenomenal. What we'll see with Regina is she's once again going to be in the position of having to choose sides. Is she going to stay a hero? Is she going to continue down that path? Or is she going to revert to her old ways and join the dark side?
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How far is Regina willing to go to get her happy ending?
LP: She will go as far as it takes. She is so determined and this is her number one priority and goal right now to find the author. The minute she finds the author she's hoping she can change her fate, and then everything else will fall into place for her.
The Outlaw Queen fans are desperate for some positive news for this Sunday's mid-season finale, what can you share?
LP: Well, I have nothing positive and nothing quite negative. This Sunday, Regina and Robin Hood unite and they have a real long discussion about their relationship and how it's going to move forward or not. What we learn is that Robin is put in the position where he has to make a very difficult decision between Marian and Regina, so we'll see what his decision is this Sunday. But he definitely has to choose. Regina is not very good at being anyone's second woman, she wants to be number one in his eyes and hopefully he'll want the same.
Do you think it was beneficial for their relationship that Robin did not see Evil Regina under the Curse of Shattered Sight?
LP: Absolutely. That's why she was so adamant about keeping him as far away from her as possible. It is more that she knew her potential and that her worst self is basically what we saw leading up to the curse in fairytale land. She knows what she's capable of, and how destructive she can be, and how temperamental she is. I think if she has seen Robin, she would've seen the worst in him as well, so I was really happy that they never crossed paths.
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How much fun was it playing off of Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow's worst self?
LP: It was a ton of fun, I loved that scene. We had a blast on set filming it and obviously it was quite believable given that we weren't really doing the stunts. It was a ton of fun. I loved being the Evil Queen again — it just felt good being in her shoes. I missed her, as did Regina, so I t was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed it.
Rumple has been especially dark and deceptive this season, how do you think Regina would react if she discovered that his good-guy front has seemingly been an act?
LP: I think she would probably be quite empathic and have compassion for him. They have the most history together — well, apart from Snow — out of all the relationships on the show. He has not only been a mentor, but a big brother, a kind of father figure, a friend, a formidable foe — he's played so many roles in Regina's life. I think ultimately they both want the other to be happy and to find that happiness, but not if she's going to lose her son. I don’t think she's aware of Rumple's plan. She has no idea that Gold is planning to take Henry away from her. I think if he just took Belle, it wouldn't really be an issue for Regina, but clearly taking Henry is a huge issue for her, so we'll have to see how that plays out this Sunday.
Once Upon a Time's Winter Finale airs Sunday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
