Neither Prince Charming nor his Storybrooke self have been living a charmed life on ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Charming is currently held captive by the Queen, whose evil plan bore fruit when she poisoned Snow White with one rotten apple. David Nolan, meanwhile, has Regina repeatedly spelling trouble for him and Mary Margaret.
The prince, at least, is destined to soon revive and rescue his one true love — or is he? Or might a new twist rewrite even that happy ending? With Once‘s Season 1 finale arriving Sunday at 8/7c, Josh Dallas dished on the “epic” events and “crazy-bananas” surprises ahead.
TVLINE | Charming is currently still imprisoned and trying to get to Snow White. When we next see him, will it be at her coffin-side?
It is possible…. There’s going to be a lot of pieces we hinted at and left unanswered in the pilot that will be answered in the finale, for sure.
TVLINE | So you’re saying that whether people realize it or not, there are blanks to be filled between where we left off on Sunday and the opening scene of the pilot?
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. A lot of things are filled in, and there will be a lot of surprises coming at you. I mean, the finale is crazy-bananas. It’s like a train that keeps on going and won’t stop. And like the last episode, which was really centered around Snow’s side of the story, this one is very much Charming’s side of the story.
TVLINE | My concern, and I brought up with your bosses, is that once he arrives at Snow’s coffin we’ve come full circle. I don’t know why we would ever revisit Snow and Charming in Season 2.
That’s interesting. But we still have magic afoot, and magic can do a lot of things. And Rumplestiltskin still has an agenda, and we’re not really quite sure what it is or what it might turn into. And the Evil Queen will still have her agenda…. Anything can happen. So I think in Season 2, not only with Snow and Charming but all the characters we set up, there is still so much more that we can discover, even in flashbacks. We still don’t even know Charming’s real name!
TVLINE | Meanwhile in Storybrooke, is David with Mary Margaret holding vigil at Henry’s bedside?
No, he might not become aware of that. Kathryn’s back, and I think they’ve kind of made their peace about what their relationship was, because obviously that was something planted by Regina. It wasn’t real. So at the moment that we see David in the finale, he’s got a decision to make. David has had tough time with this curse.
TVLINE | Oh, it’s totally kicked his ass.
It’s totally kicked his ass! In my opinion, he’s been affected more than anybody else. I mean, he gives her the wrong [Valentine's] card…. He’s a real tool, sometimes, and I feel sorry for him. But I love the fact that I as an actor get to play the two different emotional speeds of the two guys. They’re the same character, but they have different experiences that make them inherently different people. David has all that Charming stuff inside of him trying to get out, and by the finale, hopefully, fingers crossed, Charming is going to come out.
TVLINE | Is it safe to say that even if he doesonce and for all smooth things over with Kathryn, that by the end of the finale yet anotherobstacle will be thrown in his and Mary Margaret’s way?
There are obstacles thrown in everyone’s way by the end of the finale.
TVLINE | How has Once Upon a Time been for you versus what you went into it expecting?
Oh, it’s gone beyond every expectation I ever had. When I first read the script during pilot season, I thought it was something so unusual and something I’d never seen on television before, and it was definitely something I wanted to be a part of because of [series creators] Eddy [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz]. It was a chance for us to tell these characters in a new and modern way, and in a way reinvent them. But saying that, because it was something I had never seen before on television, and because it was kind of out of the left, you didn’t know if it was going to work.
TVLINE | That’s what I said all last summer: It’d either open big, or…
Or crash and burn. For sure. So there was a lot of anxiety, because we all loved working on it so much. And when it caught on and opened in such a big way, and people stuck with us every week, it become the best time ever. It’s always great to be part of a show where people can’t wait until the next episode comes along. We can’t make this for ourselves; we’re making it for people to enjoy it.
TVLINE | Turning back to the finale, is the very final scene a case of, “Oh, so that’s what Season 2 will be about”?
No. [Laughs] You’re going to say, “What the hell is going to happen now?”
TVLINE | Oh, now you’re just quoting Adam and Eddy, word for word.
Did they say that? [Laughs] It really is true. “What the hell is going to happen now?” Something is going to happen that the fans are not going to expect. It’s big, it’s epic…. So many questions are answered and things are resolved, but that just means there’ll be a whole other load of questions!
