The much awaited “Once Upon A Time” Season 5 will have the first Pixar character Merida (Amy Manson) in the season premiere, to cross paths with Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), before joining the entire team of fairy tale characters.
Merida will meet Dark Swan sometime after the end of the movie and fans will get to know what has happened to the redheaded princess after the end of the movie and where has she been.
Executive producer Edward Kitsis told Entertainment Weekly that Merida is a spitfire like she was in the film. He added, “If she’s not your favorite new character this year, I won’t know what to say. She’s a lot of fun.”
Executive producer Adam Horowitz also confirmed that meeting Merida will be a part of Emma’s journey as Dark Swan and that everything is tied to how the world of Camelot is explored in the upcoming season.
According to Horowitz, fans will get to know how everything is tied together from the start and that the season premiere will give a taste of what the show has in store in the world of Camelot. It seems like the “Brave” princess will be actually partnering up with Belle (Emilie de Ravin) at some point.
“We’ve always wondered what would happen if Belle and Merida went on an adventure together," Horowitz told TVLine. "We hope you do, too, because it’s coming.”
As for the theory of how Merida will be connected with the “Once Upon A Time” story, the producers assured that the OUAT team is sticking to the terms of the movie including who her parents are. The OUAT twist will happen only post-movie. This dismisses the prevailing rumors of Merida being Rumple’s (Robert Carlyle) mother or the new red-headed princess being the yet unborn child of Zelena (Rebecca Mader) and Robin Hood (Sean Maguire).
In other news, there might be a possible recurring role cast, Sir Lionel, a distinguished knight sitting at King Arthur’s Round Table, who is a single father to his 13-year-old daughter Violet.