History Trivia / OnceUponATime

** As has been widely publicised, Creator/GinniferGoodwin and Creator/JenniferMorrison have frequently been mistaken for each other so many times. So they're a perfect fit to play mother and daughter. Creator/JenniferMorrison also shares some features with her on-screen father Creator/JoshDallas.

** The resemblance between Creator/GinniferGoodwin and Creator/BaileeMadison is also uncanny.

* RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle: During Season 6, Creator/RobertCarlyle was also filming ''Film/T2Trainspotting''. As a result, his hair and goatee were incorporated into Rumplestiltskin.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_Wiki The Once Upon a Time Wiki.]]

** Creator/JenniferMorrison (Emma) and Creator/ColinODonoghue (Hook) both ship Captain Swan (Emma/Hook). Creator/JoshDallas (Prince Charming) seems to be on board as well.

** In Season 4, Creator/MerrinDungey replaces Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown in the role of Ursula. [[spoiler:Possibly subverted when the episode [[Recap/OnceUponATimeS4E15PoorUnfortunateSoul "Poor Unfortunate Soul"]] reveals that the sea witch Ursula is a separate character from and was named after the goddess Ursula. It's unclear which of them Brown's character really was.]]

** In Season 4, Creator/MerrinDungey replaces Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown in the role of Ursula. [[spoiler:Possibly subverted when the episode ''[[Recap/OnceUponATimeS4E15PoorUnfortunateSoul Poor Unfortunate Soul]]'' reveals that the sea witch Ursula is a separate character from and named after the goddess Ursula. It's unclear which of them Brown's character really was.]]

** In Season 4, Creator/MerrinDungey replaces Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown 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.]]

** [[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:Creator/BarbaraHershey]] 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.]]

** Likewise, young Rumple is played by American Creator/WyattOleff.

** Belle is from a French fairy tale played by Creator/EmilieDeRavin, who is Australian, albeit of French descent but keeping her Australian accent. Belle was also voiced by the American Paige O'Hara in the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Disney movie]].

* FakeMixedRace: [[Creator/LanaParrilla's father is Puerto Rican and her mother is Italian, and she identifies as Latina. Her character Regina has a Latino father (played by Creator/TonyPerez) and white mother (played by Creator/BarbaraHershey).

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/GinniferGoodwin, Creator/RobertCarlyle and Creator/MerrinDungey (and probably others) were Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz's first choices for their respective roles.

** Regina and Henry's relationship from Season 2 onward is only a result of Creator/LanaParrilla (Regina) pushing the writers for it. The same is true for Regina and Robin's relationship, somewhat... she only pushed for a romance for Regina, the choice of Robin Hood for the love interest is the writers' doing.

** The Sheriff was meant to be Sherlock Holmes, and his curse in Storybrooke was that there was no mystery to solve. The plan fell through due to an issue with acquiring the rights. Not to mention the fact that there are already [[Series/{{Elementary}} two]] [[Series/{{Sherlock}} Sherlocks]] on TV at that point in time.

** Season 6 would have had an episode of Henry narrating stories from the book that tied up dangling plot threads of Mulan, Maleficent and Lily and others. Sadly, the producers couldn't get as many of the actors as they wanted and it was dropped.
** Creator/JenniferMorrison 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.

* SpoiledByTheCastList: In the episode "[[Recap/OnceUponATimeS1E8DesperateSouls Desperate Souls]]", there is talk of a dark one before Rumpelstiltskin, and Creator/BradDourif is a guest star. It wasn't too hard to guess what his role would turn out to be.

** Similarly, even though the live ratings have plummeted recently, it has become one of the top shows that people rent and binge-watch on Netflix.

** As noted above, Creator/DavidAnders signed on when he was told [[spoiler:he was actually playing Dr. Frankenstein.]]

** Creator/JenniferMorrison and Creator/SebastianStan, which is more creepy than the above example when their characters' interactions are considered. They broke up in 2013.

!! Trivia items with their own pages:
[[index]]
* [[AuthorsSavingThrow/OnceUponaTime Author's Saving Throw]]
[[/index]]
!!Other Trivia items:

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

** According to Creator/RebeccaMader, she expected to do an American accent to play Zelena -- since the Wicked Witch comes from an American fairy tale. But the creators insisted on using her natural accent (although this may be an example of [[EvilBrit another trope]]), and she was the first choice for the role. Conversely, Bo Beep (who appears in season 4's "White Out") has an English accent but was played by American actress Robin Weigert.

** Creator/ChristieLaing, who plays Marian, didn't know that [[spoiler:Marian was actually Zelena in disguise in season 4]] until "Heart of Gold".
** Creator/EionBailey 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.
** Creator/ColinODonoghue 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.

** Creator/JamieChung claims that she and Creator/SarahBolger 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]].

** Creator/DavidAnders 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.

** Since Season 2, a lot of fans speculated that if Rumpelstiltskin had stood up for himself and dueled Hook for Milah back in the day, Hook would have given Milah back and not run off with her. It wasn't until the mid-Season 5 episode "Broken Heart" that the writers finally turned fan speculation into canon by having Dark Hook admit that if Gold had actually fought him back in the day, he would have given him his wife back.

** As noted above, Creator/DavidAnders signed on when he was told [[spoiler: he was actually playing Dr. Frankenstein]].

** Although Creator/RaphaelSbarge 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 Creator/MeghanOry, 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.]]

** Creator/SeanMaguire in Season 5, particularly 5B where Robin Hood barely showed up or had any lines. [[spoiler: And just like Neal, he died.]] He is also the only person credited as a main cast member to not get a centric episode or character arc in either half of the season. (While it would have awkward to say the least, considering his relationship with Regina and that the real one never got to find out about this, at the very least Marian could have appeared there--surely she had UnfinishedBusiness?)
** Creator/EmilieDeRavin spends most of Season 5B not appearing or [[spoiler: under a Sleeping Curse.]] There is a reason though; she was pregnant.

** [[Music/TheWho Roger Daltrey]] as The Caterpillar- largely so he can say "[[CastingGag Who are you?]]"

** Creator/RobertCarlyle hated that [[spoiler: Neal was killed off]], feeling Rumple's character lost his main motivations afterwards.

** Creator/SeanMaguire also expressed his frustration with the lack of closure following [[spoiler:Robin Hood being unceremoniously killed off. However, after talks with the creators, Sean felt content enough to return to the show and wrap things up]].

* DevelopmentGag: In "Snow Falls", Mary Margaret tells Emma "I'm a teacher, not a nun." In the original pilot script, Mary Margaret ''was'' actually a nun.
* DirectedByCastMember: Creator/LanaParrilla (Regina) directed season 7 episode "Chosen".

** For Belle's three season 1 appearances, blonde Creator/EmilieDeRavin just wore a wig. When she was upgraded to regular in season 2, she dyed her hair brown. When she became pregnant in Season 5, she reverted to blonde and just wore wigs.

** Creator/AdelaideKane (Ivy Belfrey/[[spoiler: Drizella]]) is Australian.

** Creator/ElizabethBlackmore (Australian) as Mary Lydgate
** Hank Harris (American) as Dr. Jekyll
** Creator/SamWitwer (American) as Dr. Hyde

** Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold's fans are called [[CatchPhrase Dearie]]s. So named by [[https://twitter.com/#!/robertcarlyle_/status/173902407380631552 Robert Carlyle himself.]]

** "Rumbellers" are fans of the Rumpelstiltskin/Belle {{ship|ping}}.

** Creator/EmilieDeRavin's pregnancy was also written into Season 5. But flashbacks in Belle's episodes shoot her from the chest up. She also [[spoiler: willingly undergoes a sleeping curse]] to allow Emilie to hide the bump and allow for a TimeSkip.

** [[spoiler:Mr. Gold perfectly remembers being Rumplestiltskin]]. Most fans probably guessed it from a mile away, though TheReveal was no less satisfying.

** Similarly, several fans guessed early on that [[spoiler:Cora was the girl in the original Rumplestiltskin fairy tale]].
** Fan boards had joked [[spoiler: since ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' hit theatres about how it would translate to that universe. Less than 6 months after the film's release comes the release of Elsa from an urn, setting up season 4's opening arc]]
** Many had theorized that [[spoiler: Elsa wasn't the actual BigBad of Season 4 and that the Snow Queen was the real villain]]. They were right.

** [[spoiler: Lily being the daughter of Maleficent]] was so obviously guessed by everyone it would have been a bigger twist if it ''hadn't'' turned out that way.
** Henry's middle name being [[spoiler: Daniel]] was a popular theory.
** A smaller one brought on by TheReveal that [[spoiler: Zelena was really Marian in disguise]]. Two episodes later revealed [[spoiler: she was pregnant with Robin's baby]], which had been tossed around by fans.
** After the Black Fairy showed up in Season 6, it did not take fans long to suggest that [[spoiler: she would kidnap Belle and Rumple's son.]]

** [[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:Creator/BarbaraHershey]] 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 season 3, Creator/SeanMaguire replaces Creator/TomEllis 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, Creator/MerrinDungey replaces Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown 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.]]

* PostScriptSeason: The show had a wonderful plot conclusion at the end of Season 6, with all the plot threads closed -- [[spoiler: Rumplestitskin/Mr Gold preferring his family over his Dark One powers, Regina finally being recognized and loved as Queen/Mayor, Mary Margaret and David finally living together on a farm, Emma and Hook happily married and raising Henry with Regina, everybody resuming their normal lives and dining at Granny's every night]] -- but opening a new story ''TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture'' with [[spoiler: Henry's daughter looking for an adult Henry who doesn't remember anything about Storybrooke]]. Thus we got Season 7, which turned out to be the show's last season and as a consequence has very little connection to anything that came before it.

** The compass that Hook and Emma steal from the giants' castle is the same one that Gretel gets from her father in "True North."
** A costume example would be the dress that Violet wears to her date with Henry in "Dreamcatcher". It is an altered version of one that teenage Emma wears in Snow's vision in "Best Laid Plans".

** Alissa Skovbye, who plays Jefferson's daughter Grace, is the little sister of Creator/TieraSkovbye, who plays the adult Robin in season seven.

* RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle: During season six, Creator/RobertCarlyle was also filming ''Film/T2Trainspotting''. As a result, his hair and goatee were incorporated into Rumpelstiltskin.

** Hook was supposed to have a larger role in the second half of season two, but it had to undergo a major rewrite due to Creator/ColinODonoghue breaking his leg. The writers had to cut almost all of Hook's scenes.
** Regina and Henry's relationship from season 2 onward is only a result of Creator/LanaParrilla (Regina) pushing the writers for it. The same is true for Regina and Robin's relationship, somewhat...she only pushed for a romance for Regina, the choice of Robin Hood for the love interest is the writers' doing.

** Captain Hook was originally supposed to appear in season 1, but the writers were unable to acquire the rights to Neverland in time.
** Dracula was considered as a character for season 1, but they went with Dr. Frankenstein instead.
** Ruby had more plots planned but the ever-increasing character load in season 2 left them no way to feature her. [[spoiler: Season 5 re-introduces her]].

** Creator/SeanMaguire 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.]]

* TheWikiRule: [[http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_Wiki The Once Upon a Time Wiki]].