'OUAT's Jennifer Morrison Is Prepping For Darkness

Guys, we need to talk. It looks like Once Upon A Time Season 5 might be getting even darker than we initially anticipated. I know I've said previously that I don't think we have much to worry about when it comes to Emma's battle between the Darkness and the Light inside her, and I still don't, but I have to admit that we're likely in for a rough ride before the Savior is back to her old self again — especially since Jennifer Morrison has been reading old fairy tales to prep for the whole Dark!Emma storyline and digging into the mythology surrounding the Swan surname. Uh oh, it sounds like we could be in for some trouble.

In an interview with People , Morrison revealed that showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are "creating a villain that has never existed" in Emma as the Dark One, and that she's been "doing a bunch of research... with some of their mythology books and old fairy tale books and just looking back through the history of swans" leading up to the start of production on Season 5. She also admitted that she's working through a list of some of the darker tales she'd never read before after seeing them during a recent visit to the rare books department of the New York Public Library. It sounds like things might be getting pretty serious for Dark!Emma in Storybrooke.

Of course, this still doesn't necessarily mean that we're not going to get the old Emma back. I've always said that the battle to save her will be a major one — one that will be the crux of the new season of the show — but ultimately, the Savior saves herself. Becoming the Dark One doesn't automatically mean that the next time we see Emma on screen, she's going to be a completely different person. She is, after all, the product of True Love and possessor of light magic, so even though the Darkness is tethered to her right now, it'll have its work cut out if it plans to snuff out all the goodness in Emma. The war that she'll be waging within herself is going to be so interesting to watch, and likely painful at times, but I'm still not concerned about the outcome.

It's always so fascinating to me to hear how actors prepare for the roles they take on, and when it comes to a series like Once Upon A Time and a character you've been playing for years, it must be a challenge to continue to find new angles to delve into. Of course, the addition of magic and fairy tales gives them endless options, and no doubt Morrison will do an amazing job in Season 5 when it comes to displaying the endless contradictions Emma will now likely represent. Basically, it needs to be September already, because I need the new season, like, yesterday.