After his character Prince Charming lost – and regained – his memories again during Season Three of “Once Upon A Time,” will the creators allow Josh Dallas's character a bit of happiness this year? Probably not.
“Once Upon A Time” follows the denizens of Storybrooke – fairy tale creatures cast into our world through a continued convoluted mass of curses. Each character harbors two identities, their real one and the mundane one created of false memories when they were cursed. Over the years, villains have become antiheroes, heroes have become morally grey, and no one has been able to permanently return to their homeland known as the Enchanted Forest.
The second episode of the new season is entitled “White Out” and deals with the repercussions of dropping an ice sorceress from a magical world into our technology smorgasbord with no warning. Elsa isn't evil, she's just scared out of her mind. Dallas spoke with me by phone about what to expect from the first half of OUAT's 4th season and how Prince Charming's past is intertwined with the royals of Arendelle.
Image Credit: ABC
HitFix: So the season premiere was last Sunday and we only got to see you and your lovely wife for only a moment. But you had baby Neal with you. Was that your son?
Josh Dallas: That is not our baby. Oliver will not be making an appearance on “Once Upon A Time.” It”s important for us to separate real life from TV life so he won't be on the show.
HF: Probably for the best. It”s already a little like blurry there.
JD: Exactly. And God forbid he becomes an actor.
HF: What are you gonna tell him you guys do for a living?
JD: That”s a good question. I don”t know because, you know, look he started acting from in the womb. He”s heard things about blood magic and ripping hearts out and fairies and people called Tinker Bell. So Lord knows what he”s gonna grow up thinking.
HF: Ha! He'll probably think normal life is super boring. So last year you guys had your memories stolen and there was drama and time travel. Do you think this year things calm down for the Charmings? Will they pass the drama baton to another couple to just be happy?
JD: That”s not the way things work on “Once Upon A Time!” But my hope is that when it”s all said and done – when it”s all over that these characters find their happy endings. I think that would be a great thing but who knows. Mary Margaret and David are moving towards that happy ending. Maybe in some ways quicker than the others, but there”s still always drama and there”s always something going down that they”re gonna have to deal with. You know this whole first half of the season”s about not giving up on the ones you love. So that's David and Mary Margaret with Prince Neal. David and Mary Margaret with Emma. Emma with Hook. It”s Emma with Henry. It”s everybody. It”s Elsa and Anna coming into the show. So it”s about not giving up on people and being there for them.
HF: Speaking of Elsa and Anna. Everyone has been really focused on the fact that “Frozen is coming” and everything”s gonna be icy and chilly and have CG snow monsters. But I think the more interesting thing is that Anna disappeared five years ago. At which point the main cast was already in Storybrooke. So what do you think was there to meet her since the Charmings are MIA?
JD: That is something that you”re gonna have to tune in and find out; it”s really interesting. But of course you”re gonna see throughout the first half of the season, the connections the characters from “Frozen” and the characters that you already know and love from Storybrooke. So with this Sunday”s episode which I”m real excited about you”re gonna see David”s connection to actually two characters from Arendelle from way, way back from before he was a prince, before he became the hero that he is. He was just the lonely shepherd with long hair before he found scissors.
Image Credit: ABC
HF: As a shepherd, did David ever see reindeer?
JD: Now if I say that…but I have seen them on set, yes. They”re pretty awesome and I”m sure they get paid more than any one of us.
HF: The reindeer lobby is hardcore. They will come to your house.
JD: Hey, they”re very talented.
HF: They are! I was actually shocked how much facial expression they were able to get out of a reindeer. So much emotional range!
JD: They don”t work very often. They”re like Daniel Day Lewis. Those reindeer really – they put time inbetween projects so they can really invest, you know?
HF: David has a much larger role in the next episode (“White Out”). Hook and David are on a mission to figure out what happened to Emma. Do we get more of the bro-ship between David and Hook in the upcoming episode?
JD: Yeah, there”s definitely a little bit of that. And more of it to come in the first half of the season, for sure. But the episode is focused on what”s going down in Storybrooke. Elsa is startled by Emma and ends up encapsulating them in this ice cave where Emma”s life is in grave danger. David and Hook show up and David talks Elsa down off the ledge with a lot of things that he learned from her sister Anna. So he”s kind of passing it over. And, you know, his meeting with Anna in Storybrooke is, in my opinion, the most important friendship that he”s had outside of Snow White in his life. It”s an encounter that basically changes the whole course of his life and sets him on a path to becoming the hero that he is later to become. And it”s all from Anna. So I can”t wait for people to see that.
HF: So what you”re telling me is that come Monday morning there”s going to be a new ship on Tumblr?
JD: I didn”t think about that but I guess it”s possible. [laughs] We accept all ships. All ships are welcome.
HF: All ships are welcome? So you know there are fans who want Hook and Charming to take their bro-ship to the next level?
JD: I think they would make a great couple! I think that would be kind of like Butch Cassidy and Sundance. It would be a great spinoff! It could be like a cop show.
HF: Oh my gosh. Yes, Charming is the good cop and Hook is bad cop.
JD: The True Detective meets Odd Couple.
HF: True Detectives of the Enchanted Forest or it”s True Detectives of Storybrooke.
JD: Exactly. I think we”re on to something!
HF: Oh man. Honestly the only other questions I have are all super girly questions about your baby!
JD: Go for it.
HF: Weirdest parenting moment so far? Just like a moment where you think “What is even happening to my life right now?”.
JD: The first time I changed five diapers within 35 minutes.
HF: So are you guys getting enough sleep? Oliver three months old, so you should be on the tail end of sleepless nights, yeah?
JD: I wish that were true but it”s not true. I haven”t slept since the 28th of May. But it is all worth it!
Image Credit: ABC
HF: Okay, last question. Who do you think wrote the book that has all the happy endings in it?
JD: Oh man. Oh, that”s a good question. And I don”t know. I have no idea. I have no idea who wrote that book. Maybe Rumple?
HF: Ohhh. I like that. I love a good conspiracy.
JD: He seems to be behind everything anyway. Bu maybe that”s too obvious?
HF: Well, I guess we”ll have to keep watching to find out then!
“Once Upon A Time” airs on Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.