Is ‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5 new tonight, and when does season 6 begin filming?

Greetings, #Oncers! We do wish that we had a new episode of “Once Upon a Time” to discuss tonight on ABC … if that was possible.

We understand that you may wonder why the network decided to air a two-hour finale rather than giving us a one-hour episode tonight, and the reasoning is simple: The Billboard Music Awards. Because this show runs the entire length of primetime and airs tonight, there was simply no room for a new episode of the fairy-tale epic, however disappointing that may be to hear. (Trust us, we’d rather have Jennifer Morrison and company than another music awards show any day of the week.)

This is also the last Sunday of May sweeps, so we presume that this may be yet another reason why there is no new episode scheduled beyond this. Airing into Memorial Day Weekend / June = a terrible decision for a network more often than not. Folks go on vacation, and this is a family show!

We feel like we’ve covered already when the series could return (think late September / early October), so for a moment let’s touch on another key question with this show: When will the sixth season begin filming? There is no definite date out there, but we can give you a similar time-frame to much of the past: Early July. The cast typically reassembles in Vancouver before Comic-Con in San Diego, and that gives them a real sense of what the story could be moving forward. It also gives production time to craft a little teaser.

Rather than introduce a flood of new characters beyond Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, we feel like the goal of executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis seems to be to have some fun with the multiple sides of the Evil Queen, who has definitely reared her head once more.

Throughout the offseason, be sure to head over here to get some further “Once Upon a Time” updates! Also, sign up here to get some further TV magic via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)