Who will be joining the fairy tale roster?

With Meghan Ory now in for the long haul this season, Once Upon a Time‘s writing staff has been mapping out the next year of the hit fairy tale drama before filming is scheduled to begin within the next month. As for exactly what fans are in store for, details are currently being kept under lock and key while they’re expected to begin leaking small tidbits once production begins. With the status quo of the series now drastically changed following quite the massive season finale, many are left to wonder just what will happen now. Well, it seems like Storybrooke is about to get a little bigger as it’s been revealed we’ll have two more characters to grow attached to.

Fan blog FYOUAT reports that in the season premiere,  we’ll meet “Anastasia [who] is a princess” along with “Magnolia…a fierce Asian warrior who feels a connection to the earth and its creatures.” In true Once Upon a Time fashion, it’s also said that “both of their stories involve love”, which has grown to be the largest element of the series so far. The roles will both be recurring, so we can expect to see them throughout the season in one way or another.

What’s interesting is that it seems Magnolia is a completely original character, while Princess Anastasia certainly sounds like she could be a variation of the 1997 animated fairy tale that was loosely based off of the real-life daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia. Whether or not the two are in love with each other or if they even connect with one another is undetermined at this point. It’s also unclear if they’ll be flashback-only characters, but given the series’ reputation for having characters show up on both sides of the spectrum we wouldn’t bet on it.

What also bares mentioning is just how the two will appear. With the events of the finale gaining momentum, it’s clear that not only will we still have fairy tale flashbacks, but also that there are assumedly no more alter-egos in the real world either. So, are we recalling these characters’ pasts, or are they simply additional characters to existing stories such as Snow White’s or Regina’s flashbacks?

It seems with new characters there are plenty of new questions as Once Upon a Time is set to return to ABC Sundays at 8PM sometime this fall.