Once Upon a Time renewed for Season 7

ABC has officially renewed Once Upon a Time for a seventh season, despite the departure of Jennifer Morrison.

According to a report by Deadline, the show will be heading towards a “reset,” given that many of its major story lines will be wrapped up in the upcoming season finale. As previously reported, Jennifer Morrison, who plays Emma Swan, the Savior and daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, decided to leave the show after its sixth season concludes.

Several of the main cast members are set to return in the seventh season, namely Lana Parrilla (Regina Mills/The Evil Queen), Robert Carlyle (Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin), and Colin O’Donoghue (Killian Jones/Captain Hook). Other original cast members including Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White) and Josh Dallas (Prince Charming) also could appear as guest stars. No news yet on who else in the extensive cast of Once Upon a Time will be continuing their fairy tales in the next season.

ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey talked about Season 7 in an interview with Deadline last January, saying:

“Regardless of what we decide to do at the end of this season…I think [Horowitz and Kitsis] think they would put a little bit of a bow here, and then there is a next piece that comes after that. There will be a little bit of closure in this particular narrative.”

The sixth season has been building up to a great conflict between the forces of good and evil known as the “Final Battle” where the Savior, Emma Swan, will face the Black Fairy, one of her most powerful enemies to date. The writers have promised that this battle will be unlike any other previously portrayed on the show and that the characters will not emerge unscathed from this.

Don’t miss the two-hour season six finale of Once Upon a Time this Sunday on ABC.