History Trivia / OnceUponATime

** Caroline Morahan is far too [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother young and pretty]] to be ''Brave'''s Queen Elinor but turns in a spirited and heartwarming performance nonetheless.

** Creator/CarolineMorahan is far too [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother young and pretty]] to be ''Brave'''s Queen Elinor but turns in a spirited and heartwarming performance nonetheless.

* In the Season 7 Cast Goodbyes special, Creator/DaniaRamirez called herself "a huge fan of the show" prior to being cast as Cinderella.

** Speaking of the Sheriff, they wanted him to [[http://www.ew.com/article/2014/09/22/once-upon-a-time-jamie-dornan-return return in Season 3]], which fell through because Creator/JaimeDornan was filming ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey''. If they'd gotten to do it, he'd have appeared in what was described as a ''Film/PeggySueGotMarried'' moment [[BackForTheFinale in the season finale]] -- Emma would have seen him while trapped in the past, but been unable to reach out because doing so would have wrecked the timeline.

** Originally, Maleficent and Lily's story was to reveal Lily's father as Zorro. Unfortunately, the writers couldn't obtain the rights to the Zorro character, despite him appearing in a Disney TV show in the late 1950s, so, instead, Regina mentions it in passing in the series finale.

** Merrin Dungey appears to have done quite well after starring in the show. Beforehand her credits were mostly guest spots in various TV shows. Afterwards she was part of the ensemble cast of ''{{Series/Conviction}}'' and got a prominent role in the high profile ''Literature/BigLittleLies''.

** Rumple's ImportantHaircut in Season 6 was because Robert Carlyle had cut his hair short for ''Trainspotting 2''.

** Speaking of the Sheriff, they wanted him to [[http://www.ew.com/article/2014/09/22/once-upon-a-time-jamie-dornan-return return in Season 3]], which fell through because Jaime Dornan was filming ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey''. If they'd gotten to do it, he'd have appeared in what was described as a ''Film/PeggySueGotMarried'' moment [[BackForTheFinale in the season finale]] -- Emma would have seen him while trapped in the past, but been unable to reach out because doing so would have wrecked the timeline.

** Amy Manson claims she was offered to make Merida a series regular. She declined, not wanting to move to Canada to work exclusively there.
** Sean Maguire stated that if Season 5 had been the final season and the show not been renewed, then [[spoiler: Robin Hood wouldn't have been killed off, since that was done to kick off a plot for Season 6.]]

** Jennifer Morrison claims she was offered the chance to remain a series regular for Season 7. She turned it down but agreed to make a guest appearance.
** Originally, Maleficent and Lilly's story was to reveal Lilly's father as Zorro. Unfortunately, the writers couldn't obtain the rights to the Zorro character, despite him appearing in a Disney TV show in the late 1950s, so, instead, Regina mentions it in passing in the series finale.

* RealLifeRelative: Sort of. Sunny Mabrey (Glinda) was married to Ethan Embry (Greg) but they were separated while the show was airing. They rekindled their romance in 2015.

** Creator/GinniferGoodwin has said that ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' was her favourite Disney film as a child. Other cast members have said just how much like Snow White she is in real life too. She even shows off her Disney knowledge in the DVD audio commentary.

** Creator/GinniferGoodwin has said that ''Snow White'' was her favourite Disney film as a child. Other cast members have said just how much like Snow White she is in real life too. She even shows off her Disney knowledge in the DVD audio commentary.

** Ginnifer Goodwin has said that ''Snow White'' was her favourite Disney film as a child. Other cast members have said just how much like Snow White she is in real life too. She even shows off her Disney knowledge in the DVD audio commentary.
** Rebecca Mader was a huge fan of the show and had hoped to be asked to play Ariel. She claims she screamed in public when she was offered the part of Zelena.

** Jamie Chung is normally known for playing AsianAirhead roles. Mulan is TheStoic in this version, making it a very different role for her. Notably Mulan's characterization in the movie would have been within type for her.
** Graham was retroactively this for Jamie Dornan -- who tends to be a VillainProtagonist or at least a morally questionable character. Graham is probably the most heroic role he's ever played.

** Considering that Richard Schiff is probably most famous for playing the eternally frustrated, HairTriggerTemper, JerkWithAHeartOfGold speechwriter Toby Ziegler on ''Series/TheWestWing'', watching him act as a benevolent, soft-voiced king is jarring, to say the least.

** Rose [=McIver=] usually plays women with tragic backstories, or who have gone through BreakTheCutie in some way. Tinker Bell is similar but recovers from her damage and reverts to TheCutie pretty quickly.

** Otherwise averted with Creator/DavidAnders, who only signed on when he was told [[spoiler: his character was really Dr. Frankenstein]]. Likewise, Creator/MeghanOry was told that [[spoiler: Red would turn out to be the wolf]] a few episodes before it actually happened.

* TheOtherMarty: Creator/PaulaMarshall was first cast as Maleficent, but was later replaced by Creator/KristenBauer.

** [[CastAsAMask It seems to be intentional]]. In Season 1, the Queen of Hearts is played by Jennifer Koenig. In Season 2, she's played by [[spoiler:Barbara Hershey]] when she's revealed to be [[spoiler:Cora]]. It should be noted that [[spoiler:even when she was played by Jennifer Koenig, Barbara Hershey supplied the voice, which was hard to make out due to her speaking only in whispers.]]
** In his first appearance, "Skin Deep" in Season 1, Gaston is played by Sage Brocklebank. In his second, "Her Handsome Hero" in Season 5, he's played by Wes Brown, and the "previously on" flashbacks have Brown inserted into the scenes from "Skin Deep".
** In season 3, Creator/SeanMaguire replaces Tom Ellis in the role of Robin Hood. It's later justified when a flashback taking place before his first appearance shows Robin stealing a glamour charm from Zelena and using it to hide from Rumple, whom he double-crossed. He says that the charm will make him appear to be someone else in the eyes of his enemies, so Rumple doesn't recognize him when they meet next.
** In season 4, Merrin Dungey replaces Yvette Nicole Brown in the role of Ursula. [[spoiler: Subverted when the episode ''[[Recap/OnceUponATimeS4E15PoorUnfortunateSoul Poor Unfortunate Soul]]'' reveals that they're separate characters: Dungey's character was named for Brown's.]]
** In Season 6, Oded Fehr replaces Naveen Andrews (who portrayed the character in ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland''; scheduling conflicts with ''Series/Sense8'' prevented him from reprising the role) as Jafar.
* TheOtherMarty: Creator/PaulaMarshall was first cast as Maleficent, but was later replaced by Kristen Bauer Von Straten.
* ThePeteBest: Sean Maguire is best remembered as Robin Hood than Creator/TomEllis.

** Merida's parents are both played by Irish actors. The other people from Dun Broch are likewise played by local Canadian actors. Averted only with Merida -- played by Scottish actress Amy Manson -- and with Macintosh -- played by Scottish actor Paul Telfer.
** English actor Stephen Lord puts on a Scottish accent to play Rumple's father Malcolm.

** Creator/NicoleMunoz (Young Lily) is Canadian. Notably her adult self Agnes Bruckner is American.

** Creator/Jennifer Morrison had been dyeing her hair brown for ''{{Series/House}}''. Fed up at having to spend so much time getting it dyed, she reverted to blonde to play Emma.

* DirectedByCastMember: Lana Parrilla (Regina) directed season 7 episode "Chosen".

** Jennifer Morrison had been dyeing her hair brown for ''{{Series/House}}''. Fed up at having to spend so much time getting it dyed, she reverted to blonde to play Emma.
** Elizabeth Lail darkened her blonde hair to red to play Anna.
** Agnes Bruckner darkened her blonde hair to brown to play Lily.
** Merrin Dungey dyed her hair blonde for Ursula.

** Sarah Bolger (Princess Aurora) is Irish. Ironically Mary Costa, who voiced the Disney version, was American as a FakeBrit.

** Nicole Muñoz (Young Lily) is Canadian. Notably her adult self Agnes Bruckner is American.

** Cruella and Hook are both played by Irish actors -- Victoria Smurfit and Colin O'Donoghue -- doing English accents.
** Cruella's mother and Hook's brother are played by Australians -- Anna Galvin and Bernard Curry -- doing English accents.

** Especially notable in "Tallahassee" which features Jennifer Morrison and Creator/MichaelRaymondJames as the teenaged versions of Emma and Neal. By the time Season 3 came around, Jennifer Morrison was too old to convincingly play Emma as a teen, and so Abby Ross was cast to make this slightly better.

** Whilst played straight in ''Frozen'' (where a then-18 years old Anna is voiced by a 33-year-old Creator/KristenBell), ''OUAT'' makes it a minor trope, since Anna is 20 years old and is played by a 22-year-old Elizabeth Lail.

** Creator/NicoleMunoz was twenty when she played Lily at 16. And since the show is a little vague on how much time has passed since the first episode, the adult Lily is this too. There's a seven-year age gap between Creator/AgnesBruckner and Jennifer Morrison, despite their characters supposedly being the same age.
** Ruby is implied to be late teens or early twenties. Meghan Ory was nearly thirty when she first played her.

** Freya Tingley was nineteen when she played Wendy Darling, who is supposed to be around 12-14.

** Ginnifer Goodwin has also subtly hinted on more than one occasion that she's not happy with the direction Snow's character went.

** Although Raphael Sbarge as Archie/Jiminy is credited among the regular cast in Season 1, he actually appears in less than half of the first Season's 22 episodes (9 in all, sometimes briefly and in one episode only as a VoiceActor). He's demoted in Season 2.
** In Season 2, there are several episodes in which lead cast members are credited, yet either do not appear or, if they do turn up, only do so for a few moments. This is most notable with Meghan Ory, who plays Red/Ruby, whose character was promoted to main cast for the second series, but [[spoiler: after completing a major backstory arc mid-season]] is reduced to cameo appearances in occasional episodes thereafter and ultimately disappears from the series, without fanfare, several episodes prior to the season finale. Despite this, Ory remains credited among the main cast to the end of the season; in real life, the writers wrote Red/Ruby out of the series in part, according to interviews with Ory, due to them deciding to focus on other characters and in part due to Ory being cast in [[Series/{{Intelligence2014}} another series.]]
** Season 3 has Michael Raymond-James (Neal). After the first half, his appearances became significantly more scarce, culminating in [[spoiler:his character's death]], and yet he remained part of the main cast all the way to the end of the season.
** Creator/MichaelSocha in Season 4. Though he appears in just barely enough episodes to qualify putting his name in the credits, his screentime is drastically limited to the point that Emilie de Ravin looks downright punctual by comparison. Will has no storyline of his own, almost no role in anybody else's storyline ''whatsoever'', no centric episodes, and even the barest minimum role in the long-awaited flashback episode for Robin Hood, the character most directly tied to his backstory.

** Emile De Raven spends most of Season 5B not appearing or [[spoiler: under a Sleeping Curse.]] There is a reason though; she was pregnant.

** As noted above, David Anders signed on when he was told [[spoiler: he was actually playing Dr. Frankenstein]].
** Rebecca Mader was a huge fan of the show and claims she screamed in public when she was offered a role. She agreed before she even knew which role it was.
** Merrin Dungey likewise immediately agreed to move to Vancouver to film and dye her hair blonde, as she had been a big fan of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' -- and jumped at the chance to play Ursula.

** Elizabeth Mitchell suggested that Ingrid be barefoot, as she found it hard to walk in the woods while wearing high heels.
** Jamie Chung claims that she and Sarah Bolger read Mulan and Aurora's scenes as if they were lovers, picking up on the LesYay between them. [[spoiler: The show then revealed that Mulan nursed an unrequited crush for Aurora]].
** Cruella's habit of flirting with everyone was Victoria Smurfit's idea.
** David Anders used an [[TheQueensLatin English sounding accent for his true identity]] [[spoiler: Dr Frankenstein]] -- feeling the character's dialogue didn't work with his normal voice.

** Creator/ChristieLaing, who plays Marian, didn't know that [[spoiler: Marian was actually Zelena in disguise in season 4]] until "Heart of Gold".
** Eion Bailey auditioned for August pretty much knowing only what was in the script for his first appearance. He joked that the creators went to great lengths to hide the twist [[spoiler: that he was really Pinocchio]] for as long as they could from him.
** Otherwise averted with David Anders, who only signed on when he was told [[spoiler: his character was really Dr. Frankenstein]]. Likewise, Creator/MeghanOry was told that [[spoiler: Red would turn out to be the wolf]] a few episodes before it actually happened.
** Colin O'Donoghue had no idea [[spoiler: Hook was a second Dark One]] for the first half of Season 5. Quite justified in this case as Hook didn't know either.
** According to Robert Carlyle in a DVD commentary, he and [[spoiler:Creator/RobbieKay]] were the only actors told that [[spoiler:Peter Pan was Rumple's father]] until the episode when it was revealed. [[spoiler:Robbie Kay]] said in a panel in 2020 that he didn't know until the third episode he appeared in either.

** Creators said as much about Merrin Dungey's casting as Ursula from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', as she does not resemble the character much. But they were inspired to cast her because of her performance in ''{{Series/Alias}}''.

** Cruella and Hook are both played by Irish actors -- Victoria Smurfit and Colin O'Donaghue -- doing English accents.

** In terms of shipping. Those who ship the [[FanPreferredCouple popular popular fanon ship]] are often referred to by the second and others as "Swen".

"Snowings" are fans of the Snow White/Charming ship.