Is ‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4, episode 12 new tonight? What we know

Last week, “Once Upon a Time” officially said farewell to the entire saga of “Frozen,” and based on everything that we have seen and heard, we are probably not going to be seeing any of those characters again in the near future.

Unfortunately, there’s not going to be a chance to see anyone tonight, since the ABC show is officially off the air for the rest of 2014. Not only that, but there will not be another new episode on the air until March 1, 2015. The delay is a strategy that the show used last season, and that is to ensure that there are two chunks of consecutive episodes, with very few off weeks in between. In delaying the show until March, the show avoids having to take off weeks for the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and quite possibly both the Golden Globes and the Grammys.

When it does return, it will be doing so with a show that focuses on a very different story, one with a very isolated Rumpelstiltskin trying to figure out how in the world he is going to be able to establish a power base again. For the time being, he seems interested in relying upon the three Queens of Darkness: Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, and Ursula. At the end of the winter season, he and Ursula had their first meeting in an aquarium.

Throughout the second part of the season, you will learn more about these three characters; specifically, Cruella is going to have a different backstory than in “101 Dalmatians,” that way it fits more within the world of the show, and answers questions about how exactly she fits in here given her style.

We will have more news throughout the hiatus on “Once Upon a Time,” even if there are moments where we do not expect for it to be altogether frequent. You will be able to check out our archive as always at the link here, and sign up now to get even more scoop on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)