We’re closing in on the 100th episode of Once Upon a Time, and everyone is asking the same thing: will Emma succeed in getting Hook out of the Underworld?
But before we can even begin to answer that question, we need to know what we’re up against — or, rather, who we’re up against.
Greg Germann has officially joined the OUAT cast to be this next season’s big bad, the Dark Lord Hades. While some of us are used to the blue-haired sarcastic SOB from the Disney film Hercules, Hades is not someone you should view lightly. For one thing, this version of the Underworld is just a darker, twisted version of Storybrooke.
For another, this god will be smoking hot. Literally.
“Hades is such a fun, endlessly creative challenge,” Germann says of his flame-licked fiend. “Anything goes. The creators bring him to life on the page with the same out-of-the-box unpredictability that they bring to the rest of the show. They strike the perfect balance between keeping things grounded and letting things fly — sometimes literally.”
While we may not come to love this particular version of the Devil right away, executive producer Edward Kitsis assures us we’ll love him.
“Hades is a very dangerous fellow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun being the Devil.”
What’s fun for the Devil won’t be so much fun for his eternal boarders. Hook is just one of several people trapped in the Underworld, which means Hades has full access (and license) to torture him.
Last we saw of our dashing pirate, he was overcoming his Dark One urges because of his love for Emma. He let Emma sacrifice him so the Darkness could be destroyed forever.
Only the Darkness wasn’t destroyed. It went back into Rumplestiltskin.
Wait, wasn’t that the same Rumple Emma turned into a hero so he could pull Excalibur from the stone? The same Rumple who is now lying to Belle (again) and being blackmailed to be their tour guide into the Underworld? You know, only one of the two Dark Ones in history to not die after their powers went away (the other being Emma)?
After that kicker of a midseason finale, I’m sure Hades will have a few choice words (or torture devices) in mind for Rumplestiltskin.
“When you go to a place that’s surrounded by death and you think you can get out, maybe that’s not so easy.”
We know each of our favorite (and not so favorite) characters have done something they’re not proud of, and it may just come back to bite them in the butt. Previous characters will return for Germann’s debut as Hades, including Cora (Barbara Hershey), Peter Pan (Robbie Kay), and Cruella de Vil (Victoria Smurfit).
If Hades’ OUAT makeover is anything like what they did for Hook, it may not be so bad to dance with the Devil.
Then again, maybe not.
