Development The fourth season of
Once Upon a Time was ordered on May 8, 2014, Horowitz later clarified via Twitter that the extra hour was in addition to the already announced 22 episodes. It has been confirmed that, unlike the
Frozen arc, the villains of the second half of season 4 will come from "[
Once Upon a Time] mythology" instead of from their respective movies, so their origins will not be how people remember them, in particular, creator Adam Horowitz stated that "[
Once] Cruella may have a different backstory than the one that people may remember from the movie" and explained that Maleficent has already been slotted into the mythology in previous seasons. Another special, similar to the special that aired between the season 3 mid-season finale and premiere, aired an hour before the mid-season premiere on March 1, 2015 The special focused on the topic of what it takes to have familiar fairy-tale characters who have been flipped on their heads from their respective origins. A real reindeer was brought in to portray
Sven. Returning recurring cast members include
Sean Maguire as
Robin Hood, who was portrayed by
Yvette Nicole Brown in the
season 3 episode, "
Ariel". and are collectively called the "Queens of Darkness". The fourth episode also saw the return of
Brad Dourif as the previous Dark One, Zoso. "Best Laid Plans" initially named Gorin, who first appeared in "Best Laid Plans" During a second Q&A on December 15, 2014, Horowitz confirmed the return of
Joanna Garcia Swisher as
Ariel. On December 18,
Eion Bailey was confirmed to be returning as August Booth /
Pinocchio for "multiple Season 4 episodes", starting with the fourteenth episode, "Enter the Dragon". It was also revealed that
Ernie Hudson had been cast as
Poseidon, who is also Ursula's father, and
Sebastian Roche as King Stefan. In February 2015,
Rebecca Mader was confirmed to be returning as
Wicked Witch of the West / Zelena
Agnes Bruckner was confirmed to appear in a three-episode arc in the role of an adult Lily, a friend of Emma from her childhood who was portrayed by
Nicole Muñoz in the fifth episode, "Breaking Glass". The thirteenth episode, "Unforgiven", which aired on March 8, 2015, saw the return of
Tony Amendola as
Geppetto / Marco and
Jakob Davies as young Pinocchio, The episode that aired on March 22, 2015, "Poor Unfortunate Soul", saw the return of
Christopher Gauthier as William Smee and introduced Tiffany Boone as a younger version of Ursula. The following episode, "Best Laid Plans", saw the return of Barclay Hope as Lily's adoptive father. The first half of the season used the tag-line "#OnceIsFrozen" for most of its run, and "#ShatteredSight" for the episodes "Fall" and "Shattered Sight". The second half of the season used the tag-line "#QueensOfDarkness" for most of its run, "#Cruella" for the episode "Sympathy for the De Vil", and "#HeroesAndVillains" for the season finale.
Broadcast The season aired simultaneously on
CTV in Canada, and on
TVNZ in New Zealand. ==Reception==