Where Is Camelot On 'Once Upon A Time'?

While this seemingly interminable summer hiatus continues to drag its heels ever closer to September 27, there's a lot of speculation going on about just what we're in for come the premiere of Once Upon A Time Season 5. Of course, there's a lot we already know: Emma's the Dark One, we're looking for Merlin, and we're headed to Camelot. That's three of the main developments, anyway. It's the latter one we need to talk about today, however, because while I'm pretty sure we all thought we'd be journeying to a land far, far away this fall, it turns out Camelot might be a little closer to home, so to speak. You can blame the lovely Jennifer Morrison for spilling the beans during an interview with Entertainment Weekly at Comic-Con earlier this month: Camelot is actually in the Enchanted Forest.

This isn't all that surprising, nor is it unbelievable, really. The Enchanted Forest is a vast expanse comprised of many lands, many of which we've never journeyed to before. We know that there are multiple kingdoms with multiple rulers, so it makes sense that Camelot would be somewhere within, and that the likes of Regina and Snow — once they discover Merlin's whereabouts — will be familiar with the name of his kingdom, even if they've never been there before themselves.

Morrison's slip up is pretty adorable, and seems to have been confirmed by the latest set pictures that have been floating around online. However, it's not really all that much of a "spoiler" at the end of the day, particularly because there are much bigger questions that still need answering once Series 5 begins. How does the Storybrooke crew find out where Merlin is to begin with, and perhaps even more importantly, how on earth are they going to get there? Portal jumping isn't necessarily easy done, as we all know, and barring an undiscovered crop of magic beans or an evil shadow tethered to Hook's ship (which is gone now, anyway), there doesn't seem to be an easy way to get where they need to go.

Given that we know Emma will want to get the Darkness out of her, at least in the beginning, it's likely that the combination of her powerful magic and Regina's could create a new tear in the universe to get them back to the Enchanted Forest, but I'm stumped for ideas beyond that. And then, of course, there's a question I've had in past seasons, as well: If Regina's curse affected everyone in the Enchanted Forest (and then Zelena's grabbed any stragglers from the first one) at the time of casting, how could Merlin still be in Camelot? We know that the only way to avoid the curse is to escape to another land prior to its casting, so I guess that's the only answer, even if it doesn't make sense. Sure, it's feasible that Merlin was elsewhere doing wizard-y things, but what about Arthur, Guinevere, and everyone else? Hmm... I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

Images: Jack Rowdan/ABC; reginamills.tk/Tumblr