OUAT season 7 release date,cast,spoilers and everything you need to know 

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The fantastical fairy tale series is hitting the reset button for season seven, resulting in a significantly different cast, among other things. Here is everything you need to know about the impending reboot.

Once Upon a Time season 7 release date: When is it on?

was renewed for a seventh season on May 11, 2017, with ABC ordering 22 episodes. No date has been set for the premiere yet, but the network has confirmed that the show is definitely part of its 2017-18 autumn schedule – so it will be back later this year.

will air on Friday nights, as opposed to Sunday nights in previous seasons.

Friday is traditionally a tough night for TV ratings, but ABC is confident the show can perform.

"We\'ve turned Friday into more of a destination for our fantasy and science fiction fans," ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey explained.

However, could it be the final ever season? Jamie Chung (who plays recurring character Mulan) claimed that she heard one of the show bosses talking about season seven as if it\'s the last.

But she did add that the drama is probably "just going to keep on going". So don\'t worry just yet.

Once Upon a Time season 7 cast: Who will be back?

Season six had nine series regulars, but only three will be back in a regular capacity in the new season. They are:

- Lana Parrilla (The Evil Queen / Regina Mills)

- Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard)

- Josh Dallas (Prince Charming / David Nolan)

- Rebecca Mader (Wicked Witch of the West / Zelena)

That\'s right: Hook but no Emma Swan for season seven. Jennifer Morrison, who plays Emma, was offered an extension to her contract as well, but she turned it down citing personal reasons.

"As much as I love the show, I ultimately had to do what was right for me, and I need to be home," she said. "I need to be in New York, in LA [the show is filmed in Vancouver], I need to be around my family and friends and have a chance at a personal life, and to have opportunities to do new things creatively."

Fans will definitely see Emma at least one more time, though. She has agreed to appear in one episode during season seven: the season premiere, in fact.

Rebecca Mader (Zelena) was the second star to confirm her exit, explaining that she was dropped for creative reasons as part of the reboot.

Then, showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz confirmed that Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Emilie de Ravin and Jared S Gilmore will all also not be back – announcing this just two days before the season six finale aired.

De Ravin responded to the announcement on social media, saying that she "would have loved to continue exploring Belle\'s journey" but that it has also "been an honour and privilege to bring Belle to life".

After the finale aired, Goodwin described Snow and Charming\'s happy ending as a "bittersweet decision" and said that she would be keen to return as Snow in the future.

Of course, in light of the mass departure, there will be some brand new additions people can look forward to seeing.

Here are the stars joining the show for season seven as new series regulars:

Jared S Gilmore may be done as young Henry, but scenes in the season six finale revealed a time jump as an adult Henry was seen living in a Seattle apartment – numbered 815, obviously. Adult Henry is portrayed by Andrew J West, who fans of

The scenes also introduced adult Henry\'s daughter Lucy, played by Alison Fernandez (

And that\'s not all, as the showrunners have confirmed that there will be more series regulars – as well as new recurring characters – announced over the next few months.

Once Upon a Time season 7 spoilers: What will happen?

The sixth season finale offered a tease as to what to expect for season seven, as it appears that adult Henry has lost his belief in fairy tales – a clear (and intentional) parallel to the start of Emma\'s journey in the pilot episode all those years ago.

"Come on. Your family needs you," Lucy tells a very puzzled and sceptical Henry.

There is the mystery of who is the mother of Henry\'s daughter. Co-creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have promised that it will be a proper love story.

"We can\'t tell you who her mother is," they teased in an interview. "What we can tell you is that Henry and that mother is going to be an epic romance in the tradition of Snow and Charming."

A popular fan theory suggests that Lucy\'s mother is none other than Disney\'s Moana – but the showrunners have appeared to shoot down that theory. We still reckon we\'ll see Moana at some point.

Also, Lucy isn\'t Narnia\'s Lucy Pevensie – the show bosses have firmly ruled that theory out. The shared name is purely coincidental, it seems.

Despite Henry having aged several years, Kitsis and Horowitz all but confirmed that returning characters Regina, Mr Gold, and Hook will remain the same age as before.

"The age and how Henry is as old as he is without everyone else is dealt with right away as we set up the new paradigm," they said. "I think it was purposefully oblique [in the season six finale] but we have a plan in place and we\'re also allowing Rumple, Hook and the Evil Queen to be in it."

Regina, Mr Gold and Hook have had their happy endings, but what drags them back into the action? ABC released a statement as to what season seven will look like, promising that they will "join forces" with Henry and Lucy on another "epic quest".

"Fairy tale characters new and old search for true love, find adventure, and once again take sides in the struggle of good against evil, as classic tales are once more twisted and reimagined," the description added.

And ABC exec Channing Dungey teased that Regina, Mr Gold and Hook will "return but with new identities in a new city, facing a new curse".

But wait, how are the writers going to explain why Emma is not alongside Hook? Some fans are fearing that Emma will be killed off (especially since Jennifer Morrison will be back for one episode – the premiere). Is there any truth to that? Kitsis and Horowitz are remaining coy.

"There\'s nothing to say," Kitsis said. "That is correct, she is coming back for an episode. Their happiness is real, and people should enjoy that."

But they have assured fans that the show will have a very familiar feel to it, even with the cast shake-up and a move away from Storybrooke.

"We\'re trying to tell the same kind of stories and honor the DNA of what

was from the very start," Horowitz explained. "While there are some characters returning and some not returning, it\'s still the same universe, and it\'s still the same kind of storytelling.

"It\'s just that we\'re going to be coming at it from a little bit of a different angle. It\'s not going to be necessarily Storybrooke-based."

And there\'s a fan campaign – retweeted by de Ravin – to dedicate the season seven premiere to Georgina Callander, one of the victims in the devastating Manchester Arena terror attack on May 22, 2017.

superfan and met stars including Parrilla, de Ravin, and Mader one month before she tragically lost her life.

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