‘Once Upon a Time’ season 2: Eion Bailey lands TNT pilot

Is the end of August W. Booth on “Once Upon a Time” near? Based on some new information that is starting to come out now, it at least looks like the man otherwise known as Pinocchio is expanding his horizons far beyond just Storybrooke in the near future.

According to a new report from Deadline, Eion Bailey has been cast as the male lead in the upcoming TNT pilot “Trooper,” where he will be playing a widower and a dad who serves as a partner to Mira Sorvino’s character of a state trooper. This show is still in the early stages, but it could end up debuting at some point next year depending on if the network likes what they are seeing.

As for how this does tie directly into Bailey’s future on the ABC series, that much is still relatively unclear. We still do not know if August is even alive in modern-day Storybrooke, as his body was slowly turned back into wood during the season 1 finale in May. He did turn up this past episode as Emma’s guardian angel, but this was set as a scene in the past. Given that TNT shows typically are for a smaller order than the 22 episodes that “Once Upon a Time” requires, it is more than possible for August to still be alive and turning up on the show occasionally even if he does land this job full time. Heck, Giancarlo Esposito still wants to come back to this show, even in spite of the fact that he does have a full-time job on primetime in NBC’s “Revolution.”

Some of Bailey’s other major TV credits include “ER” and an arc on “Covert Affairs” as Ben. Even if he does land this gig, do you still want to see more of August on “Once Upon a Time”?