Hershey, as she appeared in 2010's 'Black Swan'

Last week, we reported on a casting call that would showcase that Regina actually had a good heart until her mother Cora screwed it all up. Though the presumed love interest from the call is still absent, ABC has cast the inspiration for her evil to appear later this season…and the actress portraying her is an Academy Award nominee.

TV Line reports that Barbera Hershey, who most recently played Natalie Portman’s mother in the psychological hit Black Swan, will be playing the role of Cora in Episode 18 of the first season.

The episode is set to film later this month, and the biggest amount of intrigue comes in the fact that if (more like when) the show is renewed for a second season, Hershey will return as Cora in an arc that currently is very slim on details.

We’ve seen Hershey’s devlish performance in Black Swan, and there’s a very good chance that she’ll only exceed upon this role as she filled the evil incernate role of Cora. Just how will she influence her daughter’s life to becoming the very wretched person we’ve been watching tangle characters’ lives in both realities?