‘Once Upon a Time’ Original Cast Member Returning in Emotional Episode

There are familiar faces and places coming to Once Upon a Time in the final season.

As all Once fans know by now, the series is ending with this spring’s Season 7 finale, closing the book of beloved fairy tales once and for all. It’s certainly sad to say goodbye, but the show’s creators have teased that the final episodes have a lot of surprises in store.

The first of those surprises has been revealed today as creators Adam Horowitz and Ed Kitsis have confirmed that the original Henry Mills, played by Jared Gilmore, will be returning for an upcoming episode. Not only will Young Henry be back, but his episode will take place back in Storybrooke before he left to find new adventure. The story is going to be all about his relationship with adoptive mother Regina (Lana Parrilla), a relationship that fans have fallen in love with over the years.

According to EW, Kitsis and Horowitz shared the info about the episode at a press screening of the spring premiere episode, which is set to air on ABC this Friday.

“We’re very excited to have Jared back,” Horowitz said. “He is, in a lot of ways, the heart and soul of this show. He grew up literally on the show, so it’s really wonderful to see him back.”

Kitsis continued by explaining that the episode, which will be the 20th of the season, will show what happened before Henry rode off on his motorcycle in the season premiere.

“At the opening of the year, when we saw him get on the motorcycle, it was like a different Jared,” Kitsis added. “We’re going to show an episode with him before that in Storybrooke with Regina.”

“We think it’s a really sweet, emotional mother-son story, ” Horowitz said.

Of course, the creators couldn’t let the entire season go by without taking fans to Storybrooke, the town that the characters called home for six seasons.

“I would be depressed if I had to go the whole year without seeing Storybrooke again,” Kitsis admitted. “So yes, we are going to see Storybrooke again.”

Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like Henry is the only original cast member returning at some point this year.

“Once is home to everyone, so there’s an open invitation to every actor who has been on the show to come back in the finale,” Kitsis said. “We’ll see who’s available. But throughout the year, we’re going to see some familiar faces as well.”

Once Upon a Time returns to ABC on Friday, March 2 at 8pm ET.