Once Upon a Time: More details on the Dark Swan

The poster for the fifth season of ABC’s fairytale drama features a stylized depiction of Emma Swan’s eyelashes with a black apple in the foreground, adding more emphasis to her role as the Dark Swan.

Once Upon a Time fans will also note that this poster is reminiscent of the memorable season 2 poster that featured The Evil Queen’s intense gaze with her trademark poisoned apple in the foreground. It’s a clever parallel that also illustrates the role reversal of Emma and Regina in the upcoming season arc.

It’s no secret that the main focus of season 5 will be on newly-dark Emma Swan as she struggles with the burden of being the Dark One. The season 4 finale saw Emma making a great sacrifice in allowing herself to be engulfed by the evil forces contained in the Dark One’s dagger. How the people around her will react to this drastic transformation will undoubtedly be the subject of much of the future episodes.

Entertainment Weekly also just released an exclusive image of Emma, in a change of costume from her trademark red leather jacket, standing in the middle of the woods (presumably in the Enchanted Forest), and about to learn about her newly-acquired powers as the Dark Swan. And in the background is none other than Rumpelstiltskin, which causes some confusion considering that at the end of Season 4, he was in a comatose state, his death only prevented by a magical shield around his body.

“If you’re going to be the Dark One, you gotta learn from the best,” executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis commented mysteriously.

Rumple is clearly involved in Emma’s Dark One training, but it looks like we will have to wait for the new season to start before we can get an explanation.

Once Upon a Time season 5 debuts Sept. 27 on ABC.