You had to figure ABC’s Once Upon a Time and its eagerly anticipated upcoming spinoff Once Upon a Time in Wonderland would cross their creative streams at some point.
But you’re not going to have to wait long for elements of one show to appear into the other.
Get this: The first episode of Wonderland currently starts in Storybrooke. We’re sworn to secrecy on details beyond that. But let’s just say that while the two shows will maintain clear and separate identities (it’s important to ABC and the showrunners that Wonderland can stand-alone with its own easily accessible story) this won’t be the last time the world Once Upon mingles over to Thursdays at 8 p.m.
I’m hedging a little about the exact placement of the Storybrooke scene in the Wonderland pilot because, as Once Upon fans know, a full episode has not yet been shot, so the order of the scenes could change from the presentation screened for ABC executives. In fact, we’re told producers only filmed 19 minutes of footage from the story they mapped out in December for the Wonderland premiere episode. That’s pretty rock star — landing a spot on ABC’s fall schedule without even shooting half an episode!