‘Once Upon A Time’ Season 6 Casts Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar; Lana Parrilla Teases Evil Queen is “Pure Evil”

‘Once Upon A Time’ season 6 will introduce Aladdin, Jasmine, and Jafar into the series. Lana Parrilla, who returns as Regina Mills and the Evil Queen, teased that the latter will be “pure evil”.

According to Deadline, new characters will be making their way to the already massive cast in the incoming season of ABC’s fairytale drama. A scene from the incoming season featured Jafar and Aladdin during a screening during ABC’s panel at the San Diego Comic-Con last July 23. Fans at the panel were treated to the first three minutes of season 6.

The two characters are most likely derived from Disney’s animated film ‘Aladdin’ and from the collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories ‘The Book of One Thousand and One Nights’. Turkish-Australian actor Deniz Akdeniz is set to portray Aladdin and Israeli actor Oded Fehr will portray Jafar.

Akdeniz is known for his work in films such as ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’, ‘I, Frankenstein’, and ‘The Water Diviner’. He also appeared on television shows such as ‘Graceland’ and ‘Perception’.

Fehr rose to international prominence with his role as Ardeth Bay of the Medjai in Universal Pictures’ ‘The Mummy’ film series. He is also famous for his work on the ‘Resident Evil’ cinematic adaptations as the mercenary Carlos Oliveira.  Fehr also appeared on numerous television series including ‘Charmed’, ‘Covert Affairs’, and ‘NCIS’.

In addition to Aladdin and Jafar, Princess Jasmine will also be joining the new cast of characters. According to Entertainment Weekly, Karen David of ‘Galavant’ will take on the new role. During a previous ‘Ask Me Anything’ event on Reddit the past year, David was asked about joining ABC’s popular television series. She replied, “I would love to be on the show! If they ever want Esmerelda, or Pocahontas, or Jasmine from Aladdin to come on, I’d LOVE to do it!”

Meanwhile, Lana Parrilla teased that the incoming season will feature the rise of an even more antagonistic Evil Queen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Parrilla told attendees of the Comic-Con, "The Evil Queen is slightly different than she used to be… She is now without a conscience so she is pure evil and a lot of fun."

The preceding season saw the full separation of the Evil Queen from Regina. Evil Queen then claimed the Dragon’s heart and declared war.

Parrilla is set to portray both characters in the incoming season. She added, "Regina's still sassy. She's not going to lose her sass… She's sarcastic and that’s what we love about her. She's not going to lose that."

The 39-year old actress teased that season 6 will be quite an interesting journey for her character. Regina will struggle to be a good person while strengthening her bond with Ginnifer Goodwin’s Snow White and Jennifer Morrison’s Emma Swan. Parrilla said, "They're working together and I think Emma has really helped Regina get to this new place in her life… And I see that continuing down that path."

‘Once Upon A Time’ is an American fairytale drama television series airing on ABC. Season 6 was renewed last March 2016 and is scheduled to premiere on September 25, 2016.