Lana Parrilla Reveals If She’d Return for a ‘Once Upon a Time’ Reboot

Lana Parrilla is reflecting on if she’d be open to putting her crown back on for a Once Upon a Time reboot.

“I’ve always had mixed feelings about it because the series ran for so long,” Parrilla, 48, said in a clip from her upcoming Tuesday, August 19, appearance on the “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast, per Entertainment Weekly. “I was like, ‘I don’t know what more we can tell, these characters have been so deeply fleshed out.’ But there’s always more stories. And that character has a huge piece of my heart, so I would be open to it, for sure.”

Parrilla played Regina Mills, also known as the Evil Queen, on the ABC series, which ran for seven seasons from 2011 to 2018. The show also starred Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle and more. While Regina was one of the series’ villains in the early seasons, she was a fan-favorite and ultimately was redeemed.

“Regina was a special character, and she was an inspiration to so many people,” Parrilla said of her character. “She started off as this really cold-hearted and hardened woman who was so vengeful. She wanted to hurt people because she was so deeply wounded — and to see her come out at the end as this hero and her journey to get there over the course of seven years was just so admirable.”

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Looking back on the series five years later, Parrilla reflected on what great scripts she and her Once Upon a Time costars had during their tenure.

“What I forgot about over the years is how great the writing is,” she continued. “I mean, I know the writing is great; it has to start with that for a show to be successful. But I forgot how many quotes were great in it and how they were like more lessons for people.”

Lana Parrilla Jack Rowand/©ABC/courtesy Everett Collection

Parrilla added that meeting so many devout fans over the years gave her a deeper understanding of why the show was such a hit.

“People grew from these characters and their lives changed, and that was something I don’t think I would’ve understood had I not been meeting the fans over the years like I do,” she recalled. “I would go back to [creators] Adam [Horowitz] and Eddie [Kitsis] and say, ‘Do you guys realize what you’ve done?’ It’s changed lives.”

Parrilla added that her time on the fantasy series was the first time she was “part of something that magical.”

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“It will always hold a dear place in my heart. Once Upon a Time is a very special show,” she said.

Parrilla isn’t the only original star who would consider returning to the series. Goodwin also expressed her desire to reprise her role of Mary Margaret a.k.a Snow White.

“I would like to make that happen,” Goodwin said to Extra in May. “If there was a reboot, I’m just saying I would be interested.”