‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5 debate: Could we see more Cinderella?
If there is a trend that the past 22 episodes of “Once Upon a Time” have shown us, it is that the writers do like to take inspiration from what is currently hot in the Disney universe. For example, we had eleven episodes spent with “Frozen” characters who have been neither seen nor heard from ever since they departing Storybrooke, and then we spent a good bit of time with Maleficent during the second half of the season. Of course, she was the lead character in a recent Disney movie anchored by Angelina Jolie.
Now, we have to wonder something simple: Is it time that we see more of Cinderella on the show? We have to think that somewhere, this has at least been considered. The character and her Storybrooke alter ego Ashley Boyd have only appeared in a small handful of episodes over the course of the series’ run, with her most recently turning up in “The Snow Queen” last season.
So why bring her in right now? In this article, we’ll try to make a genuine case both for and against seeing something like this happen.
The case for more Cinderella – For one, you already have someone in Jessy Schram who has done a great job with the part in a few appearances already, and there is still a large depth of information about this character that could be explored. Heck, some casual viewers may not even remember that the character was on the show since the bulk of her story was in season 1, when it was a little more procedural. Why not capitalize on the success of the Lily James movie? We know that Ashley is alive and well in Storybrooke, and like Mary Margaret, she has a young child.
The case for less Cinderella – The only compelling argument is that maybe you want to see the show do something a little different than the mold of the past couple of seasons, and maybe save Cinderella for somewhere down the road.
Regardless of if she appears sooner rather than later, this does feel like a character that the series does need to explore again before the show is over. She’s up there with Aurora, Mulan, and Red on that list.
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