Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, we're mostly just thankful for the return of some of our favorite shows -- including ABC's "Once Upon a Time," which is back with a new episode on November 25. Last week, HuffPost TV was among a group of reporters invited to visit the "OUAT" set in Vancouver, where we spoke with the cast about what's ahead in Season 2.
SPOILER ALERT
This Sunday's episode, titled "Into The Deep," sees Cora doing "everything in her power to steal the compass away from Mary Margaret and Emma in her quest to find the entrance to Storybrooke," according to the official episode summary. "Meanwhile, in order to protect Henry from further danger, Regina and Mr. Gold must put David's life in jeopardy in an attempt to put him in contact with Mary Margaret across the lands to give her vital information that could help her and Emma return through the portal back to Storybrooke."
There's a lot to look forward to, so we talked to stars Josh Dallas (Charming), Jennifer Morrison (Emma) and Colin O'Donoghue (Hook) about what we can expect from the penultimate episode of 2012 (after the December 2 episode, the show will go on hiatus until January). If you want to go into Sunday's episode completely unspoiled, turn back now.
Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Emma have been trapped in Fairytale Land since the Season 2 premiere with no way of communicating with their loved ones back in Storybrooke -- but that is about to change. We now know that Aurora (Sarah Bolger) and Henry (Jared Gilmore) are sharing dreams as a result of the sleeping curse they were under, and it doesn't take long for our resourceful characters to figure out a way of using that connection to their advantage. But the Netherworld is a dangerous place, and as we see in this preview clip, the risks might be a little too high for Henry ...
Naturally Charming, being the hero that he is, proves willing to face any trial for the chance to see his wife again.
"It’s this thing about true love, isn’t it? He makes this sacrifice and he goes into the Netherworld ... he might not be able to get back out, but he needs to see her just one last time," Josh Dallas told us on set. "I just think there is something so beautiful about that."
Will his plan work? You'll have to tune in to find out!
Elsewhere in Fairytale Land, Hook and Cora (Barbara Hershey) are still on the loose -- and Cora isn't thrilled that Hook lost the compass to Emma ...
Although things look dire for Hook in the preview clip, Colin O'Donoghue pointed out that for now, Hook and Cora have a mutually beneficial arrangement. "I think he’s a very smart man. He’s very clever. Basically, he’ll use her until he doesn’t have to any more," he explained. "That’s the type of guy he is with everybody and I think Cora’s the same. Cora could easily kill Hook if she wanted to, but there’s also a kind of respect for each other’s evil, like, 'I like the way this chick operates.'"
When asked about Hook's chemistry with Emma, Jennifer Morrison admitted that the pair are somewhat "kindred spirits," even if they don't particularly trust each other. "They’re both thieves and they’ve come from troubled pasts and they’ve both lost a true love, so I think that there’s a lot that they recognize in each other," she admitted. "So there’s that camaraderie and also the combativeness of that, right away."
O'Donoghue agreed, "I think he’s got a respect for her. She’s a very strong sort of character, a very strong person who’s not afraid to say what she wants and I think they’re the type of women that Hook responds to. People who are willing to play the game back with him. It’s like, 'oh, hold on a second. You’re not going to go for it? Okay. Let’s try something else.' It’s that type of back and forth."
As for whether the pair have any romantic future, O'Donoghue said he would be curious to see how a relationship with a pirate might go: "I would like to see how somebody like Hook could be if they were to go that way in a relationship with someone. How somebody as ruthless as that ... Because he’s lost this love and it’s very difficult when you’ve lost that type of love to want to have it back again. When revenge is such a big part of [his journey], I’d be interested to see how that might work."
Morrison, on the other hand, doesn't much mind who she ends up with, she's just hoping "Emma has some romance in her life ... It’s been a while!"
"Once Upon a Time" airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Do you think Charming will make contact with Snow? Do you want Emma and Hook to hook up (pun intended)? Sound off below!
