‘Once Upon A Time’ Star Looks For The Darkness In Classic Fairy Tales

Warning: This article may contain spoilers for Once Upon A Time.

Fans of Once Upon A Time were both shocked and excited to see that their favorite heroine Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison) had been consumed by the Dark One’s curse in the season finale. It was also revealed that there is one able to save Emma from that fate, but, in all likelihood, it will take much of Once Upon A Time‘s fifth season to see that hope come to fruition. In the meantime, Emma’s curse will certainly drive her to commit some evil acts upon the people of Storybrooke.

Once Upon A Time seems to be venturing into uncharted territory with this new plot development, and Ms. Morrison confirms that with the assurance that she has been working with Once Upon A Time showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz in “creating a villain that has never existed.” It seems like a troublesome task, considering much of Once Upon A Time‘s past plot developments have hinged on classic literature, but Jennifer says they are researching those classic fables in an effort to create a myth Dark Emma can call her own.

“In order to build Dark Emma, I’ve been doing a bunch of research there with some of their mythology books and old fairy tale books and just looking back through the history of swans and the etymology of ‘Swan,’ ” Ms. Morrison said in an interview with People Magazine.

Much like her Once Upon A Time character, Jennifer found herself researching old volumes of literature that have been safeguarded for generations in the New York City public library.

Thanks @JMOFamily for finding this photo from my very memorable moment with the rare books #NYCPublicLibrary pic.twitter.com/kqgJLAQsC5

— Jennifer Morrison (@jenmorrisonlive) June 12, 2015

“I was given the opportunity to go to the rare books department, and they showed me some of the most incredible first editions of old fairy tale compilations that were just stunning,” the Once Upon A Time actress said. “There were some stories in there that I’d never heard of, so I have yet to read them. I have a list of them that I’m working my way through now!”

Ms. Morrison also said that she’s very grateful for the opportunities provided through working on Once Upon A Time. Jennifer said it’s rare to work on a show that provides so many avenues of growth.

“Villains are fun to play as an actor, but no matter what, it’s also just fun to have something new,” Morrison explained. “It’s so rare to go into season five of a show and feel like a character is evolving and changing at such a drastic pace that I really get stretched and challenged on a daily basis.”

Morrison said that the intention was to send the characters of Once Upon A Time into a new land, as they usually do with a new season, but the creative team behind Once Upon A Time saw an opportunity to send Emma someplace she hasn’t yet explored: her own soul. The new season of Once Upon A Time will allow Emma to step back from the responsibility of being the savior and away from everyone else’s interpretation of her destiny.

“And now she’s in a position where she is free of all of that and is facing all of the potential darkness that she has tried to avoid. So we will see what that means for her, and we’ll see how she grows and changes because of that,” the Once Upon A Time actress says. “We’re also going to see everyone in her life fighting to try to get her out of that place and help her overcome it.”

Season five of Once Upon A Time will premiere on Sunday September 27 on ABC.

[Featured image: Jennifer Morrison courtesy of ABC/Once Upon A Time]