Once Upon a Time: The battle for Emma’s soul comes to a head

Back in Storybrooke, the situation is made more complicated when Zelena’s pregnancy suddenly accelerates and the baby arrives, causing strife for Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Robin Hood (Sean Maguire). “Regina really establishes the rules,” Parrilla says. “This is how it’s going to be, you can see your daughter, but under strict supervision. One of us has to be present, meaning Regina or Robin Hood. There is still a huge level of distrust when it comes to Zelena and Regina. I just don’t think she feels that Zelena is going to make the right choices, and she doesn’t. She wants that baby to be wicked and she’s going to teach it how to be wicked. She’s going to take it and run back to Oz. Regina and Robin Hood are going to do everything to stop that.”

“Robin being a bit of a family guy, he’s very concerned about the fact that you’ve got this dreadful, all but evil person who seems to be without redemption,” Maguire says. “It’s going to be a very difficult season for them to figure out what the best solution is. Also, the show’s about hope. We’re trying to believe there can be some redemption for Zelena, but we’ll have to wait and see if there’s anything in there worth saving. The difficulty for Robin is she’s the mother of the child. Under normal circumstances, he’d break his code and kill her, but then you’re killing the mother of your baby and that’s getting a bit biblical.”

But, in this case, Parrilla doesn’t think Zelena will change her ways. “Which makes me sad,” says the actress. “It’s like Cruella [Victoria Smurfit] — she was unredeemable as well, and she ended up dying as a villain. I don’t know what Zelena’s fate is, but I would hope that she could come around and they could be sisters. That’s a happy ending, and I just don’t know if they’re meant to have one.”