Once Upon a Time

*This article is about the **television show**. For Henry's book, see **Once Upon a Time**.*

## Production Information

### Created by

* Edward Kitsis
* Adam Horowitz

### Starring

* Ginnifer Goodwin
* Jennifer Morrison
* Lana Parrilla
* Josh Dallas
* Emilie de Ravin
* Colin O'Donoghue
* Jared S. Gilmore
* Rebecca Mader
* Sean Maguire
* Robert Carlyle
* Jamie Dornan
* Raphael Sbarge
* Eion Bailey
* Meghan Ory
* Michael Raymond-James
* Michael Socha

## Broadcast Information

### Number of episodes

104

***Once Upon a Time*** is a television show on ABC. It is produced and created by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis.

Season One premiered on October 23, 2011, and concluded on May 13, 2012. The soundtrack for the first season was released on May 1, 2012. The full-disc DVD/Blu-ray set of Season One was released on August 28, 2012.

Season Two premiered on September 30, 2012, and concluded on May 12, 2013. The soundtrack and the full-disc DVD/Blu-ray set of Season Two were released on August 13, 2013.

Season Three premiered on September 29, 2013, and concluded on May 11, 2014. The full-disc DVD/Blu-ray set of Season Three was released on August 19, 2014.

Season Four premiered on September 28, 2014, and concluded on May 10, 2015. The full-disc DVD/Blu-ray set of Season Four was released on August 18, 2015.

Season Five premiered on September 27, 2015.

On March 3, 2016, the series was renewed for Season Six.

## Synopsis

Master storytellers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (“Lost,” “Tron: Legacy”) invite everyone to join Emma Swan, Snow White, Prince Charming, the Evil Queen, Hook, Rumplestiltskin and all the other resident fairy tale characters as they cope with Emma’s new role as as The Dark One and begin the search for Merlin. This is a journey that will take our heroes from the Enchanted Forest to Camelot and along the way bring many surprises, including encounters with a brave and headstrong Scottish princess named Merida.

As the season continues, new fairy tale characters will be revealed and old acquaintances will be revisited. Not everyone can be trusted but one thing remains true — you never give up on the people you love...

## Story

### Season One

An infant known as Emma is sent away to a distant land when the Evil Queen's Dark Curse hits the Enchanted Forest, ripping every inhabitant away to a town called Storybrooke, where the only happy ending is the Evil Queen's. This is until she adopts a child called Henry, who, on Emma's 28th birthday, visits her in Boston and reveals that he is her son. They then travel back to Storybrooke where Henry tells Emma that she is the only one that can break the Dark Curse. Emma reluctantly stays, not because she believes in the curse, but because she wants to keep her eye on Henry's adoptive mother who may or may not actually care about her son.

### Season Two

After breaking the Dark Curse in Season One, all of the fairytale characters still cannot go back to the Enchanted Forest and must deal with their own dual identities. With the introduction of magic into Storybrooke by Mr. Gold, the fate of the two worlds becomes intertwined, and new threats emerge in the form of Captain Hook, Regina's mother and two new people from our world with an agenda to destroy magic, or is it?

### Season Three

In the first half of the season, the main characters travel to Neverland to rescue Henry, who has been kidnapped by Peter Pan as part of a plan to obtain Henry's heart. Their increasing power struggle with Pan continues in Storybrooke, which ultimately results in the complete reversal of the original curse. All the characters are returned to their original worlds, leaving Emma and Henry to escape to New York City.

In the second half the characters are mysteriously brought back to a recreated Storybrooke with their memories of the previous year removed, and the Wicked Witch of the West appears with a plan to alter her fate. Once again, Emma is needed to save her family.

### Season Four

Characters from Disney's *Frozen* find their way on the first half of Season Four of *Once Upon a Time*. Elsa, Anna and Kristoff's story takes place a couple of years after their movie. Anna soon ventures out to find out why her parents travelled to a land called Misthaven. When Elsa arrives in modern-day Storybrooke, she promises to find her sister, as she was missing. Unknown to her, a mysterious woman with similar powers to Elsa and a history with Emma, had travelled to Storybrooke a few years ago for Elsa and Emma. She wanted to have two sisters with powers, as her pervious ones tried to shut her off because of them.

After the defeat of the Snow Queen Ingrid, Anna, Kristoff and Elsa can finally go back to Arendelle. However, Robin Hood - Regina's true love, must also depart because of the aftermath of Ingrid's magic on his wife. Thus, Regina teams up with Emma and Henry to seek out the author of Henry's book so that she can finally have her happy ending. However, Mr. Gold, with the help of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent and Ursula, has his own plan to rewrite the rules governing the destinies of all heroes and villains.

### Season Five

As Emma Swan becomes the new Dark One, her family and friends start a quest to find Merlin, the only one capable of destroying the Darkness. In their journey to Camelot and back to Storybrooke, they meet Merida and people from King Arthur's kingdom. When everyone, including the Camelot folk, are mysteriously brought to Storybrooke without their memories of the past six weeks in Camelot, the residents of Storybrooke start looking for a way to get them back, but a powerful and seemingly evil Dark Swan will do everything she can to prevent them from remembering.

## Development

*Once Upon a Time* has been conceived by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis in 2004 before joining the writing staff of *Lost*, but they wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on their project. *Lost* co-creator Damon Lindelof helped in the development of the series as a consultant. Eventually, they sold the pilot to ABC on October 28, 2010. On February 1, 2011, the network gave a pilot order to the series. On March 4, 2011, it was announced that Damon Lindelof was no longer involved in the project.

On May 13, 2011, the series is picked up by ABC, and it premiered on October 23, 2011. On November 3, 2011, *Once Upon a Time* received a first full season order, and concluded its Season One on May 13, 2012.

Three days before, the series was renewed for a second season., which premiered on September 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, *Once Upon a Time* was renewed for Season Three, as the second season ended on May 12, 2013. The third season premiered on September 29, 2013.

As the series concluded its third season on May 11, 2014, ABC renewed it three days before on May 8, 2014 for the fourth season. It premiered on September 28, 2014,. On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for Season Five, as Season Four ended on May 10, 2015.

The fifth season premiered on September 27, 2015. On March 3, 2016, the series got an early renewal for its sixth season. *Once Upon a Time'*s one hundredth episode is titled "Souls of the Departed", and aired on March 6, 2016.

## Episodes

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## Trivia

* None of the actors appeared in all episodes of the series, including the main ones.
* TV ad rates for 30 second spots have been:
	+ $203,537 for Season Two
	+ $173,062 for Season Three
	+ $136,538 for Season Four
	+ $155,596 for Season Five.
* The series is mainly filmed in different towns in British Columbia, Canada, with its main studio being the Bridge Studios in British Columbia. Another main filming location is Steveston Village, which doubles as the backdrop for the town of Storybrooke.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://twitter.com/AdamHorowitzLA/status/705477225139691520
2. ↑ http://www.disneyabcpress.com/abc/shows/once-upon-a-time/
3. ↑ http://variety.com/2010/tv/news/exclusive-lost-exec-producers-horowitz-kitsis-sell-pilot-to-abc-12592/
4. ↑ http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/02/once-upon-time-pilot-from-lost-creators.html
5. ↑ http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/03/once-upon-time-ginnifer-goodwin-cast-as.html
6. ↑ http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/05/charlies-angels-as-well-as-once-upon.html
7. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20111003abc13/
8. ↑ http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/11/abc-full-season-orders-various-shows.html
9. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20120507abc01/
10. ↑ http://tvline.com/2012/05/10/renewals-abc-2012-fall-tv/
11. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20120910abc09/
12. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/once-upon-a-time-renewed-season-3\_n\_3166318.html
13. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20130506abc22/
14. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20130909abc14/
15. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20140505abc24/
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/AdamHorowitzLA/statuses/464582544592470018
17. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20140908abc12/
18. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20150504abc01/
19. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20150504abc01/
20. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20150911abc06/
21. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20160212abc16/
22. ↑ From "Manhattan" on; previously guest.
23. ↑ From "Dreamy" on; previously guest.
24. ↑ From "Nasty Habits" on; previously co-star.
25. ↑ Until "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", then guest.
26. ↑ From "Dreamcatcher" on; previously co-star.
27. ↑ http://adage.com/article/media/tv-ad-prices-idol-match-football/237874/
28. ↑ http://adage.com/article/media/tv-ad-prices-football-king/244832/
29. ↑ http://adage.com/article/media/football-big-bang-tv-s-expensive-ad-buys/295130/
30. ↑ http://adage.com/article/media/ad-pricing-chart-sunday-night-football-empire-broadcasts-most-expensive-ad-buys/300516/