'Once Upon a Time' Creators Breakdown Friday's Shocking Death

That certainly wasn't the midseason premiere that Once Upon a Time fans were expecting.

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for the latest episode of Once Upon a Time! Continue reading at your own risk...

In Friday night's OUAT return, Zelena made a deal with the villainous Mother Gothel to use the resurrection amulet and save Lucy, but Victoria stole the amulet in hopes of getting Gothel to return Anastasia. Sadly, she didn't realize that Gothel's plan all along was to kill Ivy in order so save Lucy. Finally pivoting from her evil ways, Victoria sacrificed her own life to make sure both Lucy and Ivy were safe.

In the wake of the big death scene, Once creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz spoke with EW about what the moment meant for the series.

"The show is about how evil is made, it's not born," Kitsis said of Victoria's death. "We see that Gabrielle originally was trapped in the tower and became this villain, and yet in this moment what we wanted to do is [show that] the relationship between Ivy and her was a tough mother-daughter relationship, but when it really came down to it, she wasn't willing to sacrifice it. At the end of the day, she was able to reclaim who she was. That's always been a message on the show, which is, this is not a show where we expect you to be perfect, this is a show where we all say, 'Everyday we make mistakes, but it's how you come back from them,' so we felt like that was a fitting ending."

When the seventh season began, Victoria, a.k.a. Lady Tremaine, was set up as the new villain of the series. With this act however, Victoria followed the paths of Regina and Zelena, allowing the bonds of family to conquer the evil in her heart.

"We love the idea of the relationship between a mother and daughter, where from the audience's perspective, we think for the first half of the season, you really feel that Gabrielle is the villain of the year and this terrible person," Adam Horowitz revealed. "Hopefully we pulled the layers back enough to make you understand her a little more, and just as you do, the focus is going to shift. Part of it is seeing how this affects Ivy and where this pushes her next."

And, just as Emma had to do when Regina turned the corner seasons ago, Ivy will have to figure out how to feel about Victoria following her death.

"Ivy now has to deal with what happens when you spend your entire life hating someone and then you realize you shouldn't have, they really liked you, and now where do you put that hate?"

Once Upon a Time airs on Friday nights at 8pm ET on ABC.

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