The return of "Once Upon A Time" season 5 to the small screen next year will be extra special. This is because the midseason opener titled "Souls of the Departed" will mark the 100th episode milestone of the hit fantasy series.
What this means is that there will be familiar faces popping here and there. This will, in part, be pulled off by taking fans to the underworld, a place where people end up in when they have something that needs to get done once and for all.
"The second half is a lot about them getting closure on their pasts and how the past comes to haunt you," co-creator Eddy Kitsis said via (The Hollywood Reporter). Barbara Hershey's return as the Queen of Hearts, Cora, will be very important here as she will explain how things work down the underworld.
Among the returning characters are Prince Henry (Tony Perez), Sidney Glass (Giancarlo Esposito), The Blind Witch (Emma Caulfield) and Peter Pan (Robbie Kay). The recent characters that fans saw in "Once Upon A Time" season 5 such as Arthur, Merida and Guinevere will also be back.
Mulan (Jamie Chung) and Ruby (Meghan Ory) are believed to factor hugely in the second half of the season. Hook's brother Liam (Bernard Curry) will also make an appearance while in the later episodes, expect Cruella de Vil (Victoria Smurfit) and Milah (Rachel Shelley) to turn up.
As fans already know, Zelena will be very important in "Once Upon A Time" season 5 as she will be the source of the new trouble the heroes will deal with. Rebecca Mader's character is expected to bring along her little one when she carries out her revenge plot.
Other characters from previous seasons like Graham played by "Fifty Shades of Grey" star Jamie Dornan won't make it to the 100<sup>th episode or any episode for that matter. But Kitsis emphasized that the sheriff will be there "in spirit."
Apart from old characters, "Once Upon A Time" season 5 will also introduce new ones such as Hercules and Meg to be played by Jonathan Whitesell and Kacey Rohl, respectively. Their arrival has something to with young Snow White played by Bailee Madison.
When the latter half of the season premieres March 6, 2016 on ABC, Rumple will be stronger and wiser than ever.
