‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4 spoilers: Barbara Hershey returning again as Cora

One of the things that is rather nice about “Once Upon a Time” as a whole is that nothing in the past is necessarily going to remain there forever. Take, for example, characters who are dead. While you may not see the likes of Zelena or Sheriff Graham running around Storybrooke today, there’s always a chance that flashbacks could throw you back into that era again. (We already know that Rebecca Mader is returning for an episode; sadly, we’re not anywhere near as optimistic about Jamie Dornan anytime soon.)

What we know today is that we could see a little bit more of Regina’s mommy-not-so-dearest in the near future. As confirmed by co-creator Edward Kitsis to Comic Book Resources, Barbara Hershey will be staging at least one more return appearance as Cora. This is almost surely in the past, and there are many reasons in which we could see her. We’ve already heard that the producers want to get back to some of the flashbacks of the first season or two during the final 11 episodes, and maybe she has a connection with either Maleficent, Ursula, or Cruella de Vil. She could have been a mentor in some terrible way to one of them.

The Cora character is a great one for the show in that she is almost a cautionary tale. We’ve learned from her flashbacks with Rose McGowan that she is not entirely evil. However, at the same time we’ve also learned through some of these that she is almost too far gone. She’s a prime example of what Regina does not want to become.

Ultimately, we feel like this is something coming for later in the season. We’d be surprised if she turns up in the winter premiere.

If you do want to check out some more news related to tomorrow’s episode, watch a sneak peek here! Also, you can sign up to score some other TV magic in your email via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)