ABC’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ Officially Ending After Season 7
Looks like ABC is officially closing the book on Once Upon a Time. The heavily Disney-fied ABC fantasy will run its course at the end of Season 7, having already once rebooted its main premise.
Per Entertainment Weekly, the one-time 11 million-strong viewership had dwindled to 3.8 million in its seventh season move to Friday nights, along with a premise and cast overhaul that included trimming stars Jennifer Morrison, Jared Gilmore, Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White) and Josh Dallas (Prince Charming). The series will have run for 156 episodes by the time of its May series finale. Creators and LOST alum Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis had in mind potential plans for an eighth season, though Horowitz says the decision was made early on:
It wasn’t like it was a shocking phone call. We’ve had conversations for a while about what this year would be, and whether it would go on or not, and if this could be the end, so we’ve been prepared for this for a while. The network has been incredible partners with us the whole way, as has the studio. Ultimately, it’s also a business, so it becomes about, “Is it financially viable to keep going forward?” so there’s all that kind of stuff, stuff that we generally don’t deal with because we’re just focused mostly on the creative. We reached that point where it’s like, “Okay, now it’s time to wrap it up. This has been an amazing 156 episode-run, and let’s all be proud of what we’ve done and try to wrap it up.”
Horowitz also extended his goodbyes over social media:
In the meantime, the final episodes through May are expected to provide conclusive resolution for the series. Did Once Upon a Time have another life in it?
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