100 Fun Facts About Once Upon a Time

In which year did Once Upon a Time premiere on ABC?

It premiered on October 23, 2011 and ended after seven seasons on May 18, 2018.

In which US state is the fictional town of Storybrooke?

Its residents lived an unchanging existence for 28 years, unaware they were not ageing.

Which two writers from Lost created Once Upon a Time?

They had the idea in 2004 but waited until Lost was over; Damon Lindelof helped as an uncredited consultant they called the show's godfather.

Who plays Emma Swan?

Katee Sackhoff auditioned five times for the part before taking Longmire instead; Morrison had come from House.

What is Emma Swan's job when the series begins?

She is working in Boston when a ten-year-old turns up on her 28th birthday claiming to be the son she gave up.

Emma is the daughter of which two fairy-tale characters?

She was sent to our world through a magic wardrobe as a baby, just before the curse hit.

Who casts the Dark Curse that traps everyone in Storybrooke?

She interrupts Snow White's wedding to announce it, and gets the curse from Rumplestiltskin.

What is Regina's job in Storybrooke?

Her cursed alter ego keeps the town's mirror handy and its therapist, Jiminy Cricket, on retainer.

Which Scottish actor plays the Dark One, known in Storybrooke as Mr. Gold?

The part was written with him in mind; his manic prison scene on his first day of shooting made Ginnifer Goodwin jump.

Which Storybrooke resident is really Snow White?

She volunteers at the hospital, where she leaves flowers by the bed of a comatose John Doe who is really Prince Charming.

Under the curse, Prince Charming lives in Storybrooke under what name?

He spends the pilot in a coma as a John Doe, and Josh Dallas played him.

Which two Once Upon a Time co-stars married each other in April 2014?

Snow White and Prince Charming in real life: they got engaged in October 2013 and have two sons.

Which actor, later of Fifty Shades of Grey, played the Huntsman and Sheriff Graham in season one?

Regina keeps his heart in her vault, and she crushes it in the first season, killing him.

Which Irish actor plays Killian Jones, better known as Captain Hook?

Hook started as a recurring role in season two, was promoted to the main cast and ended the series married to Emma.

Which villain turns out to be Regina's long-lost half-sister?

Their mother Cora abandoned her in a basket as a baby; Rebecca Mader, who played Charlotte on Lost, took the role.

Who is revealed to be Henry's biological father?

That makes Rumplestiltskin Henry's grandfather, since Baelfire is the son he lost through a portal centuries earlier.

Peter Pan, the season three villain, is revealed to be which character's father?

Malcolm abandoned his son to stay young in Neverland; Robbie Kay played the boy who never grew up.

Why does Peter Pan kidnap Henry in season three?

The rescue party of Emma, Regina, Snow, Charming, Hook and Rumplestiltskin sail to Neverland on the Jolly Roger.

Which two Frozen characters arrive in Storybrooke in the fourth season?

Georgina Haig played Elsa, and Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost played their aunt Ingrid, the Snow Queen.

Which three villains formed the Queens of Darkness in season four?

Rumplestiltskin brought them together; Victoria Smurfit's Cruella was written so that the Author had sealed her fate to never take another life.

At the end of season four, Emma becomes what in order to save Regina?

The actress researched swan mythology to build her Dark Swan persona for the fifth season.

Which sorcerer do the characters travel to Camelot to find in season five?

King Arthur, played by Liam Garrigan, turns out to be the season's real threat, wielding Excalibur with Zelena's help.

Which god rules the Underworld that Emma leads a rescue party into in season five?

Greg Germann played him as a fast-talking bureaucrat, and Hook was the one Emma went down to bring back.

Which literary character menaces Storybrooke in season six alongside a newly separated Evil Queen?

Dr. Jekyll's serum split Regina from her evil half, so Lana Parrilla got to play both.

In the seventh season the action moves to Hyperion Heights, a fictional neighbourhood of which city?

Andrew J. West took over as adult Henry, with a new curse and new versions of Cinderella, Tiana and Rapunzel.

Who plays Cinderella, known as Jacinda in Hyperion Heights, in the final season?

She is married to adult Henry, and their daughter Lucy sets the season in motion by turning up with the storybook.

Which Canadian village doubles for Storybrooke's exteriors?

Bright objects like flowers were hidden during filming to keep the cursed town looking dull.

How many episodes did Once Upon a Time run for?

The finale, "Leaving Storybrooke", was the 22nd episode of season seven and brought back most of the original cast as guests.

Which spin-off ran for 13 episodes in 2013-14 with Sophie Lowe in the title role?

It was cancelled after one season, but Michael Socha's Will Scarlet, the Knave of Hearts, moved to the parent show as a regular.

Which Lost actress plays Belle?

Her cursed identity was Lacey; she married Rumplestiltskin and had a son, Gideon.

Which fairy-tale figure is Ruby, the waitress at Granny's Diner?

Meghan Ory left the main cast in season three for the CBS series Intelligence but kept coming back.

Henry's therapist Dr. Archie Hopper is secretly which character?

Raphael Sbarge played him, and his cursed dalmatian is called Pongo.

August Wayne Booth, the mysterious writer who arrives in season one, is really whom?

He was sent through the wardrobe with baby Emma and was supposed to look after her, but abandoned her in a foster home.

Which two actresses have played Cora, Regina's mother and the Queen of Hearts?

McGowan played the younger Cora in flashbacks; Hershey's version rips out hearts and rules Wonderland.

Which fairy tale is Emma Swan's character loosely based on?

Like the lost swan raised by ducks, she is a foster child who eventually finds her birth family and her true nature.

Emma and her teen boyfriend planned to start over in which Florida city before he betrayed her?

August talked him into turning her in to protect her destiny, and she ended up in jail.

How does Emma finally break the first curse in the season one finale?

Henry had eaten the poisoned apple turnover meant for her, and Emma had to fight Maleficent in dragon form to retrieve the antidote first.

Before Once Upon a Time, the actor who plays Mr. Gold played Begbie and Gaz in which two films?

He won a BAFTA for The Full Monty and later played the Bond villain Renard in The World Is Not Enough.

Before playing the Evil Queen, Lana Parrilla was a regular on which Fox thriller's fourth season?

Born in Brooklyn, she is the daughter of a Puerto Rican baseball player who spent a season with the Phillies.

The actress who plays Emma was best known before the show as Dr. Allison Cameron on which medical drama?

She also played Zoey on How I Met Your Mother and Kirk's mother Winona in the 2009 Star Trek.

Which Marvel character had Josh Dallas played, as a last-minute replacement, before Once Upon a Time?

He got the part days before filming after Stuart Townsend withdrew, and Zachary Levi took over for the sequels.

Which 1980s ABC sitcom had already put Snow White and her prince in the modern world?

ABC had also bought the rights to Bill Willingham's comic Fables in 2008 but never got it past planning.

Which Lost props and brands turn up as in-jokes in Once Upon a Time?

Ajira Airways, MacCutcheon whiskey and the TV show Exposé also sneak in as nods to the shared production team.

Who composed the show's theme and score?

A 25-track soundtrack came out in 2012, and Cindy O'Connor and Michael D. Simon joined him for the final season.

How many viewers watched the pilot, making it ABC's biggest debut in five years?

With DVR playback it climbed to 15.5 million, and the series stayed the top-rated drama of the season.

In which year did Kitsis and Horowitz first conceive Once Upon a Time, before joining Lost?

They had just finished working on Felicity and chose to wait until Lost ended to pursue it.

Which Lost co-creator served as an uncredited consultant, dubbed the show's 'godfather'?

The creators said Lost was about redemption, while their show is about hope.

Fans of which Bill Willingham comic series accused the show of borrowing its premise?

ABC had bought the rights to the comic in 2008 but never got past planning; Willingham said it was not plagiarism.

Why are brightly coloured objects such as flowers hidden during filming in Steveston?

Interiors such as Mr. Gold's pawn shop and the clock tower are built in separate studios.

Which 2013 comic book follows the Huntsman after Regina takes his heart?

A sequel, Out of the Past, followed in 2014 with flashbacks for Hook, Belle and the Mad Hatter.

Sent back in time in Once Upon a Time, Emma Swan attends a royal ball under which borrowed name?

Princess Leia is the alias Emma grabs at the palace door, while Captain Hook is announced beside her as Prince Charles.

Dr. Whale of Once Upon a Time, named for a 1930s horror director, is secretly which scientist?

Victor Frankenstein hides behind the surname of James Whale, who directed the 1931 film Frankenstein and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein.

In Once Upon a Time, pixie dust leads Regina to a soulmate with a lion tattoo, later revealed as whom?

Robin Hood wears the lion tattoo on his wrist. Regina first saw it through a tavern door, but she was too afraid to walk in and meet him.

In Once Upon a Time, Snow White first meets Prince Charming in the Enchanted Forest while doing what?

Robbing his carriage as a hooded bandit, Snow makes off with a pouch holding his mother's ring, so he hunts her down and catches her in a net.

In the first season of Once Upon a Time, Regina bakes her poisoned apple into which pastry for Emma?

A turnover hides the cursed fruit, but Henry takes a bite himself to prove the curse is real and collapses into a sleeping curse.

In Once Upon a Time, whoever holds which object engraved with Rumplestiltskin's name can command him?

A dagger bearing his name is the one thing that can control the sorcerer, and it is later revealed to be the broken tip of Excalibur.

In Once Upon a Time, the dwarf first named Dreamy takes which new name after giving up his fairy love?

Grumpy is the name he takes after he is warned that his beloved Nova will lose her wings if the two run away together. In Storybrooke he is Leroy, a hospital janitor.

Which actor plays Sidney Glass, the Storybrooke reporter who is really the Magic Mirror, in Once Upon a Time?

Giancarlo Esposito, best known as the drug lord Gus Fring in Breaking Bad, plays the reporter, whose newspaper is fittingly called The Daily Mirror.

Which car does Emma Swan drive in Once Upon a Time, having first stolen it as a teenager in Portland?

A yellow VW Beetle is Emma's car. When she stole it as a teenager, it had already been stolen by a man who was hiding in the back seat.

Dr. Archie Hopper's pet Dalmatian in Once Upon a Time shares its name with which Disney dog?

Pongo is the Dalmatian's name, lifted from Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and the dog who plays him is credited as Cinder.

In the Once Upon a Time pilot, ten-year-old Henry tracks down Emma Swan on her birthday in which city?

Boston is where Henry finds her on her 28th birthday, announces he is the son she gave up, and gets her to drive him home to Storybrooke.

In Once Upon a Time, newborn Emma escapes the Dark Curse by being sent to our world inside which magical object?

A wardrobe carved from an enchanted tree by Geppetto carries her away, echoing the doorway to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Which kind of business does Mr. Gold keep in Storybrooke in Once Upon a Time, its interior built on a studio set?

A pawn shop is Mr. Gold's base in Storybrooke, and it is among the last buildings shown as the camera sweeps over the town to close the series finale.

In Once Upon a Time, which object dropped by Belle becomes Rumplestiltskin's most treasured keepsake of her?

A teacup that Belle chips by dropping it in shock is the one breakable he cannot bring himself to smash. It nods to Chip in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

In Once Upon a Time, Regina's first love Daniel, whose heart Cora rips out, held which job on her family's estate?

A stable boy, Daniel was Regina's secret love until young Snow White, tricked by Cora, gave the romance away.

In Once Upon a Time, which codename does young Henry give his and Emma's plan to break the first curse?

Operation Cobra is the name Henry gives the plan in the second episode, and the fourth-season finale later echoed it with the title Operation Mongoose.

In Once Upon a Time, Captain Hook gives Rumplestiltskin which animal nickname after seeing his scaly skin?

The crocodile is Hook's name for the man who took his left hand, a twist on Peter Pan, where a real crocodile swallows the captain's hand.

Walsh, the boyfriend who proposes to Emma Swan in New York in Once Upon a Time, turns out to be what?

A flying monkey in disguise, Walsh had been spying on Emma and keeping her happy in her new life, and he attacks when she says she can't marry him.

Which actor played Jefferson, the Mad Hatter, in Once Upon a Time before a Marvel film role ended his run?

Sebastian Stan appeared in six episodes, then left for the Broadway play Picnic and his role as Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel films.

Which Lost actor plays Anton, the giant nicknamed Tiny, in the second season of Once Upon a Time?

Jorge Garcia, Hurley in Lost, plays Anton, who is named Tiny twice: first as a taunt from his taller brothers, later by a dwarf's pickaxe.

At the end of the Once Upon a Time pilot, what happens to Storybrooke's town clock when Emma decides to stay?

Its hands start moving after being stuck at 8:15, a sign that the curse is weakening. The time copies the doomed flight's number in Lost, the series the show's creators wrote for.

To complete the Dark Curse in Once Upon a Time, its caster must cut out the heart of what?

The thing they love most is the price. A prized stallion's heart is not enough, so the caster kills a devoted father, whose headstone reads 'Henry, Beloved Father'.

The archer Merida, who joins Once Upon a Time in its fifth season, comes from which animated film?

Brave gave the show its Scottish princess, and her showcase episode, The Bear and the Bow, takes its title from the film's original name.

The sorcerer's hat that Mr. Gold finds in season four of Once Upon a Time copies one worn in which Disney film?

Fantasia is the source: the pointed hat is the one Mickey Mouse wears in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and in the show it can take away any person's magic.

In season four of Once Upon a Time, the Snow Queen hides in plain sight in Storybrooke running which business?

An ice cream shop called Any Given Sundae is her cover, and a cone she serves there puts one unlucky customer under a freezing spell.

In the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, which woman of Arthurian legend is revealed as the original Dark One?

Nimue drank from the Holy Grail, and her fall began the line of Dark Ones that later reached Rumplestiltskin.

Which literary seafarer appears in the sixth season of Once Upon a Time and urges Killian Jones to give up revenge?

Captain Nemo takes Hook aboard the Nautilus and admits that he once wanted vengeance too, only to find it meaningless once he had it.

Which unusual format does Once Upon a Time adopt for the sixth-season episode in which Emma marries Captain Hook?

A musical with eight songs builds to the rooftop wedding, where Emma's dress was modelled on the one Grace Kelly wore in 1956.

Which Disney film, released the year before Once Upon a Time began, was written by the show's two creators?

Tron: Legacy, the sci-fi sequel starring Jeff Bridges, was written by the same pair who went on to dream up Storybrooke.

Which actress plays the warrior Mulan in Once Upon a Time, a recurring role she took up in its second season?

Jamie Chung, announced at the time as 'The Hangover Part II actress', took the part and later voiced Go Go Tomago in Disney's Big Hero 6.

Which AMC drama did Jared Gilmore leave to play young Henry Mills in Once Upon a Time?

Mad Men had him as Bobby Draper from 2009, and he shared in the cast's Screen Actors Guild ensemble award before leaving for Storybrooke.

In the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, Ruby's kiss breaks a sleeping curse on which storybook heroine?

Dorothy Gale wakes at Ruby's kiss in the Land of Oz, where a rival had cursed her in the belief that Dorothy had nobody who loved her.

Which Disney hero is revealed in the sixth season of Once Upon a Time as a Saviour who fled his destiny?

Aladdin cut himself free of a Saviour's fate with golden shears that once belonged to the Fates, a choice that ended up dooming Agrabah.

In the Once Upon a Time series finale, Regina is crowned ruler of the United Realms under which title?

The Good Queen is crowned by Snow White and Prince Charming once every realm has been merged into one, a long way from the villain of the pilot.

In the Once Upon a Time series finale, Emma and Hook attend a coronation with a newborn daughter named what?

Hope is the baby's name, and her arrival makes Henry an older half-brother on top of everything else in his tangled family tree.

The Black Fairy, the sixth-season villain of Once Upon a Time, turns out to be which relative of Rumplestiltskin?

His mother, Fiona, grew obsessed with protecting her newborn son after hearing a prophecy that he would one day die as the Saviour.

In Once Upon a Time, which wife leaves Rumplestiltskin for the pirate Killian Jones, seeing her husband as a coward?

Milah wanted a life of adventure at sea. When Rumplestiltskin caught up with the pair, he ripped out her heart and cut off the pirate's left hand.

Before gaining magic in Once Upon a Time, Rumplestiltskin, an army deserter, earned his living as what?

A wool spinner was his trade until he took on a sorcerer's power to keep his son from being sent to fight in a second ogre war.

In the first season of Once Upon a Time, Cinderella signs a contract with Rumplestiltskin that costs her what?

Her firstborn is what he comes to claim at her wedding ball. He had killed her fairy godmother and stolen the wand, so the wish that freed her from home was his to grant.

After the first curse breaks in Once Upon a Time, what happens to residents who cross Storybrooke's town line?

They lose their memories of their fairy-tale lives and are left with only their cursed identities. One of the seven dwarfs draws the short straw to test it and ends up as plain Tom Clark.

In the second season of Once Upon a Time, Mr. Gold gives Belle the keys to which boarded-up Storybrooke building?

The library was Ruby's idea of a job for Belle, given her love of books, and when Belle unlocks it she finds Gold waiting inside to apologise.

In Once Upon a Time, the Dark Curse turns the Blue Fairy and her fellow fairies into Storybrooke's what?

Nuns led by a Mother Superior are what the fairies become, and in the first season they struggle to pay their rent to Mr. Gold, who fiercely dislikes them.

In Once Upon a Time, how do the dwarfs who mine fairy dust in the Enchanted Forest come into the world?

Hatched from eggs as fully clothed grown men, the dwarfs have no mothers, and there are no dwarf women at all.

In the fourth-season finale of Once Upon a Time, Henry Mills replaces the disgraced Isaac in which role?

The Author's enchanted quill can rewrite anyone's story, and once the damage is undone Henry snaps it in half, saying no one should have that much power.

In the seventh season of Once Upon a Time, a cursed Captain Hook works in Hyperion Heights as what?

A police officer known as Rogers, he soon learns that his new partner is Detective Weaver, who is Rumplestiltskin living under the same curse.

Which deadly Neverland plant poisons both Captain Hook's brother Liam and Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time?

Dreamshade was supposed to be a healing herb, or so a king claimed when he sent the Jones brothers to Neverland to fetch it. He wanted it as a weapon of war.

Which British actor, a cabin boy in a Pirates of the Caribbean film, plays Peter Pan in Once Upon a Time?

Robbie Kay turned the boy who never grew up into the sinister villain of the third season, and he came back to the role in the fifth and seventh seasons.

In the seventh season of Once Upon a Time, Tiana, cursed as Sabine, opens a food truck to sell which treat?

Beignets bring Tiana more than customers: the food truck reunites her with Drew, who is Prince Naveen living under the curse.

In Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming is really a poor farm boy secretly brought in to take whose place?

His twin brother, Prince James, had been handed to a childless king as a baby in one of Rumplestiltskin's deals, then died in a duel before he could slay a dragon.

In Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming slays a dragon to seal a deal between King George and which other king?

Midas answered the delivery of the dragon's head with a surprise offer: the hand of his daughter Abigail in marriage, to unite the two kingdoms.