‘Once Upon a Time’ season 3 spoilers: Neverland over Storybrooke … for now

If you’ve thought that the casts for “Once Upon a Time” as of late have become a little bit unwieldy, odds are that you will find the following to be magical news. Otherwise, start saying a prayer for some of your other favorite characters’ screen presence.

Speaking in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly after the season finale “And Straight On Till Morning,” executive producer Edward Kitsis confirmed that for the time being, the focus is not going to be on Belle, Ruby, Leroy, or anyone else still in Storybrooke. Rather, the focus instead involving Mr. Gold, Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret, Captain Hook, Neal, and Henry, who was separated from the rest of his family at the tail end of the season:

“The characters that got on the boat at the end of the year — we’re really interested in watching this kind of dysfunctional family on this journey together, and I think we’ll meet new people along the way. But our hope is never to have the new people overwhelm it. Season 3, we really want to dive deeper into our core characters, and continually tell their story.”

We almost want to see a bizarre “Swiss Family Robinson” dynamic here, since this could be the most fun aboard a pirate ship we’ve seen in years. (Take that, “Pirate Master”!) As for where this leaves the likes of Emilie de Ravin and some of the show’s other stars for now, it’s a good question. Meghan Ory (Red) has a new show over at ABC in “Intelligence,” so she will probably just be away in general. Meanwhile, this could allow some of the other guest stars to travel to other worlds (i.e. other shows), and then fly back up to Vancouver if they are needed for a few episodes.

The biggest question mark we have right now comes via Tamara, given that Sonequa Martin-Green is a series regular this year on “The Walking Dead.” The good news is that she’ll be filming over there during much of the “Once Upon a Time” hiatus, but what happens come later in the fall? We have some time to see if this plan works or not, and hopefully inject some new energy and adventure into things.

There are some other things you can expect to see from season 3 of the ABC hit; be sure to check some of them out, and we always welcome any and all of your thoughts below.

Photo: Fox