Once Upon a Time: Scoop on the possibility of Michael Raymond-James (Baelfire/Neal) appearing in the second half of season 6 from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

 

Here's some scoop on Once Upon a Time from this week's (Posted on 1/9/17) Matt's Inside Line column.

Will we see Michael Raymond-James come back to Once Upon a Time as Rumple’s son Baelfire again? We miss him. —Rebecca
Though Robin Hood is alive and well in the Wish Realm, Baelfire/Neal is not — in large part because his absence better serves the story to be told of Emma’s new existence. “We always would love to get Michael Raymond-James back,” says co-creator Eddy Kitsis, “but when we can’t, we will make a huge wall-sized oil painting of him,” as displayed in the midseason finale (and requiring MRJ’s approval). EP Adam Horowitz notes that because the Wish Realm is not about time travel, “Baelfire didn’t jump off to Victorian England to live with the Darlings” and eventually meet Emma in our world. “There was a whole different series of events that led to Henry being born.”

Link to the full article:‘Arrow’ Season 5 Winter Spoilers — Felicity’s Darker Path | TVLine

Once Upon a Time: Neal related scoop and scoop on Snow White and Charming's baby from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

Here's some scoop on Once Upon a Time from this week's (Posted on 3/20/14) Matt's Inside Line column.

Any clue what is going on with Neal on Once Upon a Time? His fans are worried! –Sara
Patience, dearie. Within the next few episodes, the mystery of what’s been going on with Neal in Storybrooke will be answered.

On Once Upon a Time, is there any chance that Snow and Charmings’ new baby is “Dorothy” in this Oz story? –Tom
Funny, Ginnifer Goodwin told me that she and Josh Dallas have batted around that same theory – though at the time we chatted, they were warming up to the Emma-as-”Dorothy” figure speculation. But through the filming of Episode 18, at least, there have been no hints either way.

Link to the full article:‘The Mentalist’ Lisbon New Romance — ‘The Blacklist’ Spoilers ‘Once Upon a Time’ - TVLine

Once Upon a Time: Scoop on the Captain Hook/Emma/Neal love triangle from E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos

Here's some scoop on Once Upon a Time from Kristin Dos Santos' Spoiler Chat column, which was posted on 10/28/13.

Michelle: I still can't breathe after that unbelievable CaptainSwan kiss on last night's Once Upon a Time! What's next for my favorite couple?!
Prepare yourself CaptainSwan lovers because this ship is about to face a rough storm. Now that Neal is on the island and Pan oh-so impolitely revealed this news to Hook, we're about to witness a heated debate for Emma's heart. But Colin O'Donoghue exclusively tells us that Hook's relationship with Neal is "extremely complicated." He explains, "Even though now technically they seem to be about the same age, Hook is old enough to kind of be his father figure, and I think an element of him still sees Neal as that little boy." This is one stange love triangle. Especially when you recall that Hook used to hook up with Neal's mom!

Link to the full article:Spoiler Chat: Scoop on Scandal, Once Upon a Time, The Good Wife, Ravenswood and More! | E! Online

Once Upon a Time: Emma and Neal related scoop and scoop on Regina's upcoming love interest from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

Here's some scoop on Once Upon a Time from this week's (Posted on 10/4/13) Matt's Inside Line column.

I was wondering if you knew if (or when) Once Upon a Time‘s Neal would go to Neverland? Based on some cast photos that were tweeted, it looked like he might show up there. –Allie
Or, Michael Raymond-James was just photo bombing his pals on their own set…? Because Neal’s road home will not be an easy one. “This show never seems to be short in the obstacles department,” Raymond-James shares. “It’s one of those things where the answer to one problem usually leads to seven more problems that one needs to overcome. So there’s some tough sledding ahead, I’ll say that.”

How has Once Upon a Time‘s Emma not questioned or had a glimmer of hope that Neal might have been saved? –ratinhos
Fair point. So we asked Jennifer Morrison if Emma might start to somehow “sense” that Neal survived his portal plunge. But she maintained, “They have no sense in Neverland what happened with Neal.” And as for Emma’s instincts, “Because of everything she has been through — and especially having been through so much loss with Neal — for her own sanity, she has to assume that he is dead.”

Any clues on Regina’s Once Upon a Time love interest? –Natalie
You think you’re anxious to meet Regina’s romantic interest? How about poor Lana Parrilla, who when we saw her on the set Thursday had yet to start shooting that storyline. But with an eye on it, she said, “I’m like, ‘What?! I don’t think she’s kissed anyone in like 200 years.’ Well, [except for] the Huntsman. But there is something coming up. And I will say: Regina has not met him. But maybe the audience has.”

 
Link to the full article:Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Once, Glee, Scandal, Hell on Wheels, H50, Castle, Trophy Wife & More - TVLine

Once Upon a Time: Michael Raymond-James promoted to series regular status for season 3-TVLine

According to TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich, Michael Raymond-James has been made a series regular for season 3 of Once Upon a Time. Here's an excerpt from the article:

After making his Once debut as Emma’s ex/Henry’s father Neal Cassidy aka Baelfire in the Emma-centric episode “Tallahassee,” Raymond-James heavily recurred in the last string of Season 2 episodes, as Rumple discovered his son in New York City and circumstances then led them back to Storybrooke.

When last seen, Neal had been shot by Tamara, fallen through a portal and ultimately washed ashore in The Fairytale Land That Is, where he was tended to by Aurora, Mulan and Phillip.

Link to the full article:Once Upon a Time Season 3 Cast — Michael Raymond-James Made Series Regular - TVLine



My thoughts: I'll admit that I had a lot of concerns last season when they added several series regulars to the show, namely Emilie de Ravin and Colin O'Donoghue, because I felt like there were already quite a few cast members that were really being neglected by the producers and the writers in terms of how much screen time each cast member gets on the show. However, having Emilie de Ravin and Colin O'Donoghue join the cast as series regular didn't have nearly as negative of an impact on the show as I originally thought that it would. Honestly, I've come to really love the character Captain Hook, so I'm thrilled that Colin O'Donoghue is a series regular now. Plus, I've really enjoyed having Emilie de Ravin on the show on a more regular basis.

As for Michael Raymond-James, I've really come to like him as an actor and I love what the character Neal Cassidy/Baelfire adds to the show, especially when it comes to the relationship between Baelfire and Captain Hook. I'm not nearly as opposed to the producers adding new recurring characters to the show now compared to how opposed I was to them doing that before season two started. Although, I do think that the producers have a tendency to treat new recurring guest-stars/characters the same way a child often treats a new toy that they've just gotten. They seem to get really excited about having the actor/character on the show, so they feature them on the show as much as they possibly can until they introduce a new recurring guest-star/character, which often leads them to fixate on the new guest-star/character, while they end up neglecting the other characters on the show.

The fact that Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have repeatedly done this is the main ongoing complaint that I've had about Once Upon a Time. Being better about handling the ensemble nature of the show and distributing the actors' screen time in a fairly even manner is something that I think the writers really need to work on and watch out for as the series continues. It's just that considering the fact that they both used to write for Lost, I really expected them to be a lot better at writing for an ensemble TV show than they have been when it comes to the writing for Once Upon a Time. That being said, a long as they feature Michael Raymond-James in a reasonable capacity, I'm excited that he's going to be a series regular on the show next season.

Once Upon a Time: Casts Michael Raymond-James in season 2-TVLine

According to TVLine's Megan Masters and Matt Webb Mitovich, Michael Raymond-James has been cast in a recurring guest-star role for season 2 of Once Upon a Time. The details of who Michael will be playing are being kept top secret. Here's an excerpt from the article:



The secrecy surrounding Raymond-James’ role — which differs greatly from the several other castings reported on this summer (see Hook, Sir Lancelot, Sleeping Beauty and Mulan) — can only get us theorizing that he could be playing Baelfire. Rumpelstiltskin’s long-lost son last was seen getting pulled away from the fairytale-land-that-was through a portal to, presumably, our world. In fact, late last season we and Mr. Gold were led to believe that the mysterious August Booth was Baelfire, when in actuality he turned out to be Pinocchio.



Link to the full article:Once Upon a Time Casts Michael Raymond-James -- Season 2 - TVLine







My thoughts: As I discussed in my post about the casting of the role of Captain Hook (The Random Thoughts of a Writer: Once Upon a Time: Casts Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Hook) I personally think that the writers seriously need to stop adding more recurring guest-star roles on top of their already large cast and just focus on the characters that they already have on the show for a while before they introduce more characters. That being said, it will be interesting to see who Michael Raymond-James will be playing. I think it would be really cool if he ends up playing Rumpelstiltskin's son, Baelfire, as an adult.