It's almost impossible to believe seven years have already past since The Evil Queen crashed Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding, cursing everyone to live in a land without magic and transporting fairy tale characters and viewers alike into the endearing town of Storybrooke, Maine. "Once Upon a Time" is currently on hiatus, and, after this news, the March premiere will also be its last as the show joins a growing list of cancellations after its recent reboot and change of time slot for the current season.
Season seven felt like a new show
With most of the main cast leaving the show following the season six finale, fans had to say goodbye to many of their beloved characters, including Emma (Jennifer Morrison), Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), Prince Charming (David Nolan), Belle (Emilie de Ravin), among others. There was also a time jump which led to Henry growing up and the part was recast from Jared S. Gilmore to "The Walking Dead" star Andrew J. West. The show was also relocated, moving from Storybrooke to Hyperion Heights, and, to add insult to injury, it was even on at a different time, airing on Fridays instead of Sundays.
When this season premiered it was clear that the show would not be the same. It still had the same tone and magical, fairytale-like atmosphere, but failed to deliver, leaving most or it's essence behind. Moving away from Storybrooke was harder for the fans than it was for Henry or Regina, and the whole thing just felt like a failed attempt to recreate something that had worked before but would never be more than an inferior quality copy -- like asking for your favorite nachos and ending up with a cheaper store brand instead.
It should have ended last year
A known rule in the entertainment industry is that you should leave your audience wanting more, but that wasn't the case with "Once Upon a Time." With most of it's stories getting recycled over and over again -- Belle and Rumple's on-and-off relationship, the new and indestructible villain that somehow always gets defeated by the last episode, and the many times that the characters were cursed and lost their memories -- these are just a few examples that prove that this show lost the element of surprise.
So, when they apparently found a happy ending by the end of last season, it felt like the appropriate time to say goodbye and move on. Instead, the reboot happened and it seemed like the creators were just trying to cash in on previous success.
Luckily, not everything is lost, as the show is still filming, which will give the writers time to come up with a happy ending for the characters without leaving fans with a cliffhanger. Show creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have a plan for how the show will end, with some familiar faces returning for the big ending.
"Once Upon a Time" returns Friday March 2 at 8 ET on ABC.