The new season of Once Upon A Time is the start of what may be described a “new beginning” on the show, both in terms of location and characters.  Over the hiatus there was a healthy amount of concern from fans across the fandom due to the loss of major actors on the show, including Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas.  When these actors did not renew their contracts, it signaled the loss of the Charming’s, who had been the leading family of the show for six years.

Showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis have reemphasized that this new season marks a new chapter in the world they have created and that fans won’t be disappointed.  The premiere takes fans to the new setting of the show; we’ve left Storybrooke and entered Hyperion Heights, a neighborhood in Seattle.  Time has also jumped significantly.  Henry is no longer a baby-faced teenager (Jared Gilmore), but an adult (Andrew J. West) with a child and a true love that he has forgotten because of a new curse.

The foundation for this “new chapter” is set immediately when the premiere begins, with young Henry telling Regina (Lana Parrilla) that he needs to find his story and it’s not in Storybrooke.  And with that my heart shattered! Poor Regina, always being left by her loved ones.  The story then takes a turn when viewers are hit with one of our first major parallels of this new chapter with the old.  Instead of it being Henry knocking on Emma’s (Jennifer Morrison) door, a little girl named Lucy (Alison Fernandez) knocks on Henry’s door and tells him she’s his daughter.  Deja vu, am I right?!  Just like Emma, Henry also does not believe her – thanks to a new curse.

Apparently flashbacks will continue to be a recurring theme of this new chapter as well, and our first set of flashbacks show us how Henry met his “true love” Cinderella (Dania Ramirez).  They crash into each other (literally), in one of the other dimensions and drama ensues.  Henry helps her escape after a botched murder attempt of the prince and her crazy step-mother (Gabrielle Anwar), this season’s villain.

Back in Hyperion Heights, Henry meets Roni (cursed Regina) at her bar, Roni’s.  He also meets Jacinda (Cinderella) at Roni’s and sparks begin flying, despite their cursed state.  Their little party is ruined by the entrance of our villain, the evil step-mother, Victoria Belfrey in this world.  She threatens to take custody of Lucy, and is apparently trying to buy up most of Hyperion Heights, including Roni’s.

Our first glimpse of our favorite pirate, Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), is at the police station where he is currently working as a police officer.  He gets involved with Henry, Lucy and the gang quickly and comes across Lucy’s version of the storybook and seems to become very curious after glimpsing pictures of Emma.  He may be this season’s Graham (Jamie Dornan), and start to get his memories back first.

After a brief escape attempt between Jacinda and Lucy, Victoria’s daughter Drizella (Adelaide Kane) arrives with the help of cop Hook and takes Lucy with her.  After pleasing Victoria and his work helping with Lucy, he gets promoted to detective and gets paired with who else but our favorite villain Rumpelstiltskin, who is also apparently working at the police department in this curse.

Overall, it was a good premiere for Once Upon A Time and I’m interested to see where this new chapter takes us. However, I will say that as a fan of the show for the last six seasons, I hope to see more of the characters we already know and love.  Obviously it was necessary to take some extra time to introduce adult Henry, Lucy and Cinderella, but it felt like our returning characters received significantly less screen time. I’m hoping that as the new season progresses, old characters will be worked more into the story.

What did you think of the premiere and the new beginning on Once Upon A Time so far?  Comment below!