If all the Robin Hood talk in the season six premiere of Once Upon a Time had you think that we hadn't seen the last of Regina's dearly departed love, pat yourselves on the back. You were right.
Despite the character's untimely demise at the hands of Hades at the end of last season, Sean Maguire is set to reprise the role for multiple episodes this season, E! News has confirmed. But before you get too excited, there's no big resurrection in store for Robin à la Hook's big return from the dead. How he'll be appearing, however, remains a mystery for the time being.
"We're thrilled to have Sean back for this story arc and are excited for the audience to see what we have planned, which in the wake of his character's heartbreaking demise, is something we hope is unexpected and surprising," executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis told EW, who first broke the news.
The show's co-creators began planting the seeds for Robin's return during the show's panel at Comic-Con this summer when Horowitz offered up some encouraging words about the character's ultimate fate. "Everything that was said about the Olympian Crystal was said by Hades, can we trust him?" he said. "That's a question some of our characters should and will ask."
And ask they did. In the season premiere, Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Henry (Jared Gilmore) tackled the theory that Hades may have been full of it and Robin's soul might have actually moved on to a better place, rather than simply being obliterated, as advertised. Making major strides in processing her grief, Regina ultimately chose to take leap of faith and believe that Robin was OK.
When questioned at a recent press screening about whether or not this all meant Robin might return from the dead, Kitis reiterated, " 'I don't see that happening,' would be the respectful answer to our fans."
"We've had loss on this show, we've had people come back," he added. "We're not going to the Underworld this year, so I can tell you that a lot of this year is about Regina dealing with loss and moving on, because I think Regina has the most unfair luck of anybody, but that's what makes her Regina."
However it happens, we've got a feeling that Robin's very appearance is going to make moving on even more difficult for Regina.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.