[UPDATED] ‘Once Upon a Time’ Season 5 Trailer, Characters Revealed

On the eve of its Comic-Con panel on July 11 come exciting teases for Once Upon a Time‘s upcoming fifth season.

This year, ABC’s fairytale drama will focus its story on Emma Swan as she becomes the Dark One. TV Insider unveiled the teaser poster that sets the tone for how her character will transform. It has hints of Phantom of the Opera, and intentionally contrasts with the similar iconic poster of Regina, formerly the Evil Queen, in an identical pose.

As is the annual trend, with the new season also comes a new set of characters from a classic Disney property. This time it’s 1963’s The Sword in the Stone. Today Deadline revealed casting news for this new realm of the show. This includes Elliot Knight (How to Get Away with Murder) as Merlin and Joana Metrass (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) as Guinevere. Earlier, Liam Garrigan (2014’s Hercules) was cast as King Arthur. Andrew Jenkins (Wayward Pines) will play Arthur’s friend, Percival. Last month, Entertainment Weekly broke that Sinqua Walls will return as Lancelot after appearing in season two, thought to be killed by Cora.

While the season four finale didn’t leave any huge indication that season five would predominantly focus on a single franchise or entity, it certainly looks that way based on this casting news. Merlin’s name was mentioned after a season-long build up, though he never appeared in person (unlike season three’s mega cliffhanger that teased Elsa).

Season five of Once Upon a Time debuts Sunday, September 27 on ABC. Season four (which spotlighted Frozen and the Disney villains) releases to Blu-ray August 18. In the meantime, you can catch up on Once Upon a Time by reading our Storybrooke Sound-Off.

[UPDATE 7/11/15 6:55 PM EST] Revealed today at Comic-Con, look who will join the cast!

Contrary to what the season four finale implied, it looks like season five will shape up to be new character driven just as much as previous seasons, although the marketing (perhaps smartly) focuses on the Dark Emma storyline. Last year’s promotional material hyped Frozen big time, while this year’s shies away from Merlin, Merida, and the like.

Also unveiled at Comic-Con was this new sizzle reel which teases the arrival of season five:

Are you pumped for the new season of ‘Once Upon a Time’? How do you feel about the strong focus on ‘The Sword in the Stone’?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes