The death of hunky Sheriff Graham won’t be the only shocker we can expect from Once Upon a Time this season, according to series star Raphael Sbarge. The actor, who plays the dual roles of therapist Archie Hopper and Jiminy Cricket, recently told Wetpaint Entertainment there are going to be a lot more surprises in store before Once Upon a Time says “The End” to its first season finale.
Here, Raphael spills as much as he can on upcoming plotlines, developments for his characters, and why no one is safe in Storybrooke.
Wetpaint Entertainment: What can we look forward to?
Raphael Sbarge: Obviously, I can’t tell you [exactly] what’s ahead. What I can say, and this is perhaps becoming more and more obvious, is that the writers have taken a page from the Lost handbook, and what they’re doing is sort of character-based episodes, where they take one of the characters and develop them fully. What’s cool about that is you get a much deeper, richer story, so you don’t have to be all things to all characters. When any other characters come in, even if they’re on the periphery, having then found out about how or why or what, you go, gasp, and it means more. Obviously, also, what’s happening is that the battle lines between good and evil are squaring off, and I think you can probably expect some exciting crescendo to all that.
How soon will this happen?
I can’t tell you, but these gentlemen are master storytellers. I keep being amazed at how surprising and thrilling [it is] — like the sheriff dying.
How shocking was that?!
What they’ve done, very skillfully, is give all of us a sense of kind of what’s at risk. And you take a character that people like or in some cases are crazy in love with, as some women have told me, because he’s a beauty for sure. I guess [Jaime Dornan’s] one of the largest male models in the world. Like if you Google his name, you can spend hours of viewing pleasure. In all sorts of very little attire in some cases because he’s a Calvin Klein underwear model as well. God bless his soul, something to look forward to. Anyway, by killing him off [the writers have] given all of us a sense of what’s at risk and what could happen. Everyone seems sort of on the edge.
Do you keep a bag packed?
Yes. [laughs] We don’t know. We honestly don’t know.
Your episode was devastating, but it came and went. Will we revisit your storyline?
There’s a large cast, and everyone’s kind of getting their turn back. And a lot of people have asked, when do we get to see more? Can the parents come back? It was a particularly painful episode, and yet, obviously, has a lot of hope in it. There’s a lot more to tell. Again, I can’t tell you exactly, but I know there’s a lot more in store for Jiminy.
What about your alter ego in the present?
There’s some interesting developments with Archie, and what he begins to take on as his job and other sort of broadening of his responsibilities.
You mentioned the crescendo. Is that between Emma and the Mayor?
Honestly, we know how many episodes they’ve got to finish. So I’m saying to you, you’re going to see some exciting, and I think, sort of crescendo of good facing evil. And we know who’s on what side. And Operation Cobra and all that is essentially sort of taking place. Prepare for an exciting ride.
