After a really amazing season (the best one yet, in my opinion), Once Upon A Time is almost back with its seventh season. A lot of things are changing, and there is a lot of misconception out there, which is why I decided to make this preview.

First things first: Once Upon A Time isn’t erasing these last 6 years, and these new characters aren’t recasts. To make the plan for season 7 simpler, we can look at it like Disney movies (or marvel ones too). There are many versions of the same story: there is the original Cinderella movie from 1950; in 1997 a musical adaptation of this same story was made; and now more recently, in 2015, we had another remake. We had a Cinderella in the first season (and also in one episode of season 6), but the one we will see now is a parallel version of her. With Cinderella, some other characters will be rebooted as well, so we will see them “again”.

Now that this is out of the way, there is much more to talk about. To make things less confusing and more organized, I will divide the rest of the preview by topics.

Cast

Not everyone we have been seeing in the past few years will remain as show regulars: Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan), Jared Gilmore (Henry Mills), Josh Dallas (Prince Charming/David), Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White/Mary Margaret), Rebecca Mader (Zelena) and Emilie de Ravin (Belle); are all leaving the main cast. But, of course, this doesn’t mean they aren’t coming back. Jennifer Morrison is returning for the second episode, Jared Gilmore is coming back for at least the first two (and maybe some more), Emilie de Ravin is going to be back for the forth episode and Rebecca Mader is also returning for multiple episodes (possibly a little later in the season).

This isn’t official, but I really think (and hope) Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin will also return for at least one episode. With this, we will have all our old cast back.

Continuing as regulars we have: Lana Parrilla (Regina Mills/Evil Queen), Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold) and Colin O’Donoghue (Captain Hook/Killian Jones). But even as awesome as these actors/characters are, they could never make a season by themselves. Joining the regular cast, we have: Andrew J. West (older Henry), Gabrielle Anwar (Lady Tremaine/Victoria Belfrey), Dania Ramirez (Cinderella/Jacinda), Alison Fernandez (Lucy). Later, Mekia Cox joined the regular cast, and she will be playing Princess Tiana/Sabine.

Location

With a new curse, comes a new city. The next Once Upon A Time locale will be Hyperion Heights. This new city really is very different from Storybrooke. First, because it isn’t a small town anymore, this is really a big city. Second, and I find this bit quite interesting, not everyone in Hyperion Heights will be a fairy tale character, since this seems to be a city created before the new curse. Third, because bad things don’t happen if people try to leave. Out of the contrary actually, since Tremaine would be quite pleased if they did (more on that later). This means that Hyperion Heights is definitely not lost in time, so we will start seeing some up to date technology.

Characters

Like in season 1, we will see different versions of each character. They will all be up to something, so here is a little summary of each character.

Regina is now Roni, a bar owner (kind of like Granny’s but with a lot more alcohol). Even though she doesn’t remember her former self, Regina is still going to lead the front against Lady Tremaine’s evil acts. She is saying goodbye to pantsuits and perfect hair, so it seems she will be a little freer of the responsibility of being a hero.

Hook is going to be Rogers, or better, Officer Rogers, since he will be a part of the police department. In the beginning of the new season he will be very focused on finding answers to a case, and that might just mean he will ask for Rumple’s help.

Knowing Rumple is going to help Rogers, is pretty much all we know about him, which means he continues to be very mysterious. We don’t even know his new name. Some people say he will be the next “Godfather” but we really don’t know. We are definitely going to have to wait until Friday to find out.

We will also meet an older version of Henry. We know that a few years after the ending of season 6, Henry left to a parallel universe to find his own story, and it seems he did, with Cinderella. Years later they have Lucy, and the curse is casted. In our world, after writing a failing book which tells the story of the first 6 seasons of the show, Henry became a Swift driver (kind of like Uber), until Lucy came knocking on his door, dragging him to Hyperion Heights.

Lucy’s job in this new season seems to be very similar to Henry’s, back in season 1. Her father lost belief, so it is now her job to get that back, to make him believe in hope, faith, Happy Endings (or beginnings) and fairy tales. In other words, Lucy will be the new crazy kid of the show.

Like most of the women in Once Upon A Time, Cinderella isn’t a damsel in distress, out of the contrary, she is a very badass princess who really doesn’t need anyone to protect her. This means that, as usual, the epic romance between her and Henry will definitely not start with the right foot, but they will warm their way to each other. In Hyperion Heights, Jacinda apparently won’t be very different from her original self, except for the fact she will have a daughter to protect this time.

As rebellious as Cinderella may be, Lady Tremaine seems to be the one who puts her in her place. She is that kind of woman who was wanted by every man in happier years, but as she got older, she ends up alone. We don’t know who casted the curse, but she does seem to be a good candidate. In present day, Victoria is a woman of power, and her goal is to push the fairy tale characters out of Hyperion Heights and into the real world so that they live on the rest of their days miserable, not knowing who they really are.

Now introducing the main character from The Princess and the Frog, Tiana is also popping up in the new season. We don’t know a lot about her, other than the fact her centric episode will be the fifth, and in it we will meet her mother. In Hyperion Heights, Sabine is Jacinda’s roommate, and we can totally expect to see the two of them bond.

Aside from these, Drizella and Alice are going to guest start in some episodes. We really know nothing about Alice, other than the fact her cursed name is Tilly, but we can totally expect some wickedness coming from Drizella. She is definitely going to help her mother make Cinderella’s life a living hell.

With all this said, now we simply have to wait. Hope this preview made the plans for season 7 a bit clearer, and also made you guys excited for it. The season premiere of the show is entitled “Hyperion Heights” and it will air next Friday, October 6^th, at 8 pm, so don’t miss it.