‘Once Upon A Time’ Season 6 Drops Half-Season Storytelling Structure, Reverts to One Full Story for All 22 Episodes

‘Once Upon A Time’ season 6 is set focus on one story arc for a full season and will drop its half-season storytelling structure. Creators revealed that the series will feature plot continuity for all 22 episodes instead of breaking it in two blocks.

According to Buddy TV, the incoming season will change things up by dropping its usual half-season template. Since season 3, the series had been implementing a split season structure of 11 episodes each wherein the fall half of the season has one contained storyline and the spring half has another. The second half often introduces brand new characters.

However, season 6 will be reverting to its season-long format that tells one story for a full 22 episodes. According to Yahoo! TV, co-creator Adam Horowitz announced the news last June 11 at an ATX Television Festival panel.

Co-creator Edward Kitsis added, "It's not going to be 'Hyde comes to town, we fight with him for 10 episodes, and then in the winter finale he dies and we move on.' We are... going back to that Season 1 mentality of small-town stories and smaller arcs. We’re planning a 22 episode story, as opposed to just kind of breaking it up into 2 parts.”

Season 5’s finale introduced a new character in the form of a man with two contrasting personalities. Dr. Jekyll (Hank Harris) and Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer) started the episode as one being but eventually the two separated through the use of a special serum concocted by Dr. Jekyll. Hyde then set out to replace Rumplestiltskin as Storybrooke’s latest resident villain.

Regina (Lana Parilla) also used the same serum to try and vanquish the Evil Queen inside her. The plan was for her to get injected with the serum and once the Evil Queen emerged, she would finally kill her.

However, Evil Queen didn’t stay beaten. By the end of the episode, she was seen existing separately from Regina and was out for revenge.

According to TV Series Finale, Horowitz teased that the Land of Untold Stories will be featured more prominently in the show’s incoming season. He said that this would open up more avenues for expanded storytelling especially when it came to the series’ main villains.

He added, “What’s really exciting about it is, for season 6, really being in Storybrooke again. As we hinted in the finale last year, in seeing the Evil Queen [Lana Parrilla] split, it’s allowing us to do that for a lot of our characters — not as literally — but it’s turning inward on a lot of these characters that we’ve been with for five seasons so far.”

‘Once Upon A Time’ is a fantasy-adventure and drama television series airing on ABC. It stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parilla, Jennifer Morrison, Josh Dallas, and Jamie Dornan. ABC renewed the series for a sixth season on March.