(Warning: This article contains spoilers from the latest episode of Once Upon a Time)
Season 7 of Once Upon a Time has been filled with more than a few twists so far, but Friday night’s episode provided perhaps the biggest of all. After seeing the photo of herself with a young Henry, Roni (Lana Parrilla) went on a bit of a journey to discover who she really was. Her quest ended with Drizella (Adelaide Kane) officially waking Roni up from the curse, so she now remembers everything, including the fact that she’s actually Regina.
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What does this mean for the show going forward? For one, we know that Regina now has to decide what to do about Henry and Jacinda’s relationship. Is there a chance she would side with Drizella, and keep the couple apart for what she believes to be the greater good?
To break everything down, EW spoke with Parrilla about the twist, and what it means for her character going forward.
“She’s in a complete state of shock,” Parrilla said of Regina’s awakening. “Not having any memory of who you truly are, then being woken up and remembering why the curse happened to begin with is all a huge, huge shock to her system. She’s taking it all in, but it’s quite jarring to her. She doesn’t quite understand how to process everything just yet. Drizella wakes her and it’s a progression. Regina forgets that she doesn’t have magic and goes to strangle Drizella, and realizes, ‘There’s no magic in this world, I don’t have magic.’ Drizella toys with her and tries to get her to remember why this curse happened and the consequences of breaking the curse.
“The consequences of breaking the curse terrify Regina more than anything. This is all very shocking for her. But really her focus is mainly on the consequences and what could possibly happen if this curse is broken. It’s really up to Regina to either not break the curse or figure out a way to break the curse so people aren’t hurt in the process. But if she breaks the curse, horrible, horrible things will happen to the people she loves.”
Knowing that breaking the curse could cause in losing loved ones, Regina faces a tough decision, which is made even tougher with the knowledge that Henry is her son. When asked what her character will do with this news, Parrilla revealed that there is a very thin line to navigate.
“She ends up putting negative seeds in both of their heads, getting them to look at things like, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t be rushing into this, maybe you should be taking your time, maybe your focus should be more on’ — especially with Jacinda — ‘Lucy and getting your daughter back,’ the actress explained. S”he’s not super manipulative, but she’s keeping them apart for now until she figures out a better way to approach all this. It’s a process and it takes place over a couple episodes, where she’s not quite sure what to do. And I think she feels a little victimized right now. She’s at the mercy of Drizella and her power, and she feels a bit weak right now, because she doesn’t know what to do. But then little by little, she comes up with another plan, and that plan involves someone who we know, and she’s going to find this person to try and get some help. She’s going to find the one person who can possibly help her break this curse.”
Once Upon a Time airs on Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
