‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4, episode 17 preview: Rebecca Mader’s Zelena returns!

If you thought that “Once Upon a Time” was bewitching tonight, just wait until the series comes back in two weeks. Rebecca Mader is back in action as Zelena! The Wicked Witch was the big bad throughout the second half of season 3, and was a pretty formidable opponent for all of Storybrooke to deal with. Also we love any time this show brings in “Lost” alumni since we will forever be in love with this show.

What is somewhat surprising about the promo below is that Zelena does not appear to be coming back in the past. Instead, she appears to be in the present, perhaps even more powerful than she was the last time we saw her. How in the world is this return possible? Maybe it is a consequence of something the Author has done, or maybe there’s some other spell or wrinkle that is causing this. Regardless of the reason, this is clearly bad news when you consider all of the vendettas that this woman has. She clearly is going to be out for Rumpelstiltskin after she was murdered, and she is none too thrilled with her sister Regina, either. She’s got a list running, there’s no question.

As far as returning characters go, we’re thrilled with this. We’d love it if the show went down some wormhole of bringing back many old villains for another go. How about more Robbie Kay as Peter Pan, while we are at it? Since the Snow Queen seemed to be pretty dead, she doesn’t seem so possible. Also for some reason the show seems intent now in pretending like all of that with Anna and Elsa never even happened.

If nothing else, ABC knows how to sell a promo! We’re already hooked, and we cannot even tell you if this episode will be any good.

What do you want to see on “Once Upon a Time” in two weeks? Let us know, and if you missed it, head over here to read our review! Also, sign up to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)