During my time at Comic-Con, I got a chance to hit the Once Upon a Time press room and sit down with the likes of Jennifer Morrison (Emma), Colin O’Donoghue (Hook), Lana Parilla (Regina), Robert Carlyle (Rumple), Emilie de Ravin (Belle), Rebecca Mader (Zelena), Sean Maguire (Robin), Josh Dallas (David/Charming), Ginnifer Goodwin (Mary Margaret/Snow), and creators Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis about the upcoming season. Luckily, we had interviews with the cast after the show’s official SDCC panel, so I had a lot to draw from after the panel.

One of the things I was most excited to ask was how Merida (from Brave) was going to fit into Once Upon at Time next season. While showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis weren’t able to reveal much about her appearance in the show, they did tell me that she was going to show up in the first episode of Season 5. She’ll be coming into the picture in some fashion to help the heroes deal with the fact that Emma is the new dark one.

The creators also told us that we’d be learning more about what happened to Rumple at the end of season 4, and what it means for the newly purified dark one. With Emma now the Dark Swan (which is the best name ever), it will be interesting to see how Rumple deals with the loss of both his magic and power and what it means for his relationship with Belle.

Of course, that isn’t the only relationship that will be rocked next season. Hook is going to be in a tough spot emotionally with the love of his life now the dark one. Regina is going to have to deal with the fact that she didn’t get rid of Zelena when she had the chance, which will be especially difficult considering the fact that the wicked witch is still pregnant with Robin’s child. Mary Margaret/Snow and David/Charming will be going to extraordinary lengths to pull their daughter back from the dark side.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg folks, so stay tuned to Nerdist next week for our full interview with the cast and creators of Once Upon a Time, and don’t miss our interview with the show’s Ariel in the latest Celebrity Playlist!