Jennifer Morrison leaving Once Upon a Time

Just as Emma Swan begins to pursue her “Happy Beginning,” Once Upon a Time star Jennifer Morrison announced that she will be leaving the show.

In an interview with Deadline, Morrison confirmed that she did not accept the offer from Once Upon a Time showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz to stay with the show should it be renewed for a seventh season, though she would be willing to come back for one episode.

Speaking about her decision, Morrison said:

“I spent six years year on House, a year on How I Met Your Mother and spent 6 years on Once Upon a Time, and collectively that’s 13 years of network schedule, which is an amazing and incredible gift but it’s a grueling schedule…

I’ve been transitioning into doing more directing, I’ve had some opportunities that I’ve passed up along the years in order to fulfill these network schedules, and I really had to weigh where I was in my life. I’m just at an age and a time in my life where I want to be home, I want to be with my family and my friends, to have a chance to have a personal life for a while, and also wanted to be available to do other creative things…

It just felt like everything had come to a really nice place for Emma, and (Horowitz and Kitsis) had set themselves up to really revamp the show with new people in a really interesting creative way…

It felt like time for me to come home.”

After the musical episode of Once Upon a Time, where Morrison showcased her impressive musical talent, the show is heading towards a very eventful season finale, with the “Final Battle” taking place between Emma and the Black Fairy. Some characters may not survive this latest trial but the writers assured fans that the major story lines would receive closure somehow.

Speaking about the finale, Morrison said:

“It’s tough to do that without giving anything away…What I can say is that I feel like everything culminates in a way that I feel is very true to Emma’s story and true to everything that she’s been through. I thought (Horowitz and Kitsis), as always, came up with something that was really creative and inventive in terms of what it was that Emma really has to face in order to fight the final battle. I’m very pleased with how they’ve written the character and how they have everything play out in the last couple of episodes.”

Emma Swan is a huge part of Once Upon a Time and it is difficult to imagine the show without her. But if the show were to continue, there are still so many fascinating characters to love and stories that have yet to be told so there is no shortage of source material.

Once Upon a Time airs every Sunday on ABC.