The ‘Once Upon a Time’ team are revealing more details about Amy Manson as Merida
The latest Disney character to drop by ABC’s Once Upon A Time is Princess Merida, and we cannot WAIT. The fierce and determined red-head from Brave will be played by Amy Manson, and still has a fondness for archery, just like in the movie. We’ve so far seen a quick teaser of her at Comic-Con this past year, and at D23, the first official image of Manson as Merida was released. And now, thanks to OUAT‘s showrunners/executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, we’ve got even more amazing information about what’s going to happen when Merida stops by.
The two recently talked to Entertainment Weekly, and while they didn’t spill too many upcoming secrets about Merida’s role this season, the gave us just enough to hold us over till the season premiere on September 27th.
We’re going to meet Merida after her movie.
As Horowitz explains, “We’re going to give you a little taste of where she’s been since then, [and] what’s happened to her since the end of that movie.” That means, Merida’s mom changing back and forth into a bear? Been there, done that.
The first character Merida’s going to meet is Emma.
Gulp. At the end of last season, Emma Swan became the new Dark One, and was apparently transported somewhere else through a magical, black-smoke dark magic portal. Where is she? Who knows. But wherever she is, she’s going to find Merida. Hopefully Merida is ready for that.
Don’t worry! Merida will get to hang out with the rest of the OUAT crew.
Somehow, meeting Merida is important to “Emma’s journey as the Dark Swan and dealing with her darkness,” explains Horowitz. Merida will continue to be important even as our gang of heroes (and villains) makes their way to brand new location, Camelot.
We still have no idea where Merida is in the magical world, though.
Not to get all into the nittygritty of OUAT, but we still don’t know where Merida is. She’s wherever Emma is, but that could be anywhere. The whole gang is making their way to Camelot, but Camelot doesn’t have a location yet. Is it in the Enchanted Forest? Is it in Scotland — just like Brave? Or are we about to find ourselves in a brand new OUAT location via some magical portal?
Theory debunk time:
OUAT loves to connect all of its characters together in the strangest most magical ways (remember the Henry-Neal-Rumple-Peter Pan family tree?). Kitsis and Horowitz have already gone on the defensive, and stated that some current fan theories about Merida are not true. Merida is not Rumple’s mother (because seriously that would just like, blow my mind). Merida is also not Zelena’s unborn baby (even though that would fit, with the red hair, and the archery from Robin Hood).
While Horwitz will admit they’re good theories, “the reality is we are sticking to the canon of the movie Brave in terms of who her parents are and where she came from, but post-movie is where our Once Upon a Time spin comes into play.” So keep thinking up new ways to connect Merida to everyone else.
Merida is going to be our favorite.
Merida is officially the first Pixar character on the show (HOORAY!). She also happens to be one very near and dear to Kitsis and Horwitz . They stoked to have her in the OUAT world. As Kitsis simply puts it, “If she’s not your favorite new character this year, I won’t know what to say.”
(Image via Disney.)
