Once Upon a Time: Creators on Ending the ABC Series

Is the fairy tale ending anytime soon? ABC has already renewed the Once Upon a Time TV series for a sixth season, but will Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz decide to pull the plug on the series, much like their former bosses Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did, when they self-cancelled Lost? A retelling of classic fairy tales and other fictional stories, Once Upon a Time is quite a different show than the mystery series for which they formerly wrote. Because the Once creators are playing in such a large sandbox, the series could, theoretically, continue for decades without running out of source material inspiration.

When EW asked if the duo planned to ask for a Once Upon a Time end date, Horowitz said,”There are some similarities in our storytelling — that’s where we came from — but Lost was a much more closed-ended show that needed that kind of ending.” In addition to Lana Parrilla and Ginnifer Goodwin, pictured above, Once Upon a Time also stars Jennifer Morrison, Josh Dallas, Jared Gilmore, Robert Carlyle, Emilie de Ravin, Colin O’Donoghue, and Sean Maguire.

Here is more on the eventual end of Once Upon a Time, from EW:

 

Though, the producers do have some semblance of an ending in their back pocket. “We certainly have endpoints in mind for many of our characters and where we want the story to go and finish up, but we have different ways of getting there,” Horowitz says. “We’re not, at this point, setting a specific end date for the show. But what we are doing is taking the luxury of knowing we have another season to be able to continue our long-term planning.”

Therefore, the OUAT bosses are not looking at season 6 as the end. “No,” Kitsis says. “We could change our minds in a few months, but right now we’re just trying to get out of [season] 5. We have plans for season 6. Listen, there’s a time and a place where, at a certain point, characters either need to find their happiness or not, and we are aware of that. We’re just not ready to answer that question yet.”

 

 

 

Horowitz and Kitsis have a new series, Dead of Summer, premiering on the Disney-ABC owned Freeform channel. Lost‘s Elizabeth Mitchell stars in the spooky summer camp horror series with Elizabeth Lail, who played Mitchell’s niece on Once Upon a Time. Get more information including the premiere date, series description, photos, and cast list, here.

What do you think? How long would you like to see Once Upon a Time remain on the air? Do you think it will be cancelled or renewed for a seventh season. How would you like the series to end?