Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Casts Lost's Naveen Andrews as Iconic Disney Villain

it was revealed on the series' Comic-Con panel that Andrews will play Aladdin's Jafar, who is described as "very, very, very evil"

By Tierney Bricker Jul 20, 2013 6:18 PMTags
Lost, Naveen AndrewsABC/Mario Perez

A Lost star is going on a magic carpet ride.

Naveen Andrews has booked his first major U.S. TV gig since the ABC cult hit ended in 2010 and it's one doozy of a role: Andrews will play classic Disney villain Jafar from 1992's hit animated film Aladdin on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, debuting this fall on ABC. The new series' creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, who worked on Lost, revealed the epic casting news at Once Upon a Time in Wonderland's Comic-Con panel on Saturday. Oh, and Andrews made a surprise appearance!

Kitsis described Jafar as a "very, very, very evil villain" and said their take on the character will be "very frightening." We. Can't. Wait. 

Of taking on the role, Andrews said, "I hope it will be something like you've never seen before." Casting Andrews was a no-brainer for Kitsis and Horowitz; in fact, they wrote the role for him! "We absolutely had this character in mind and we knew we wanted Naveen to play it. We asked him he said yes and we said lets save it for Comic-Con," Kitsis explained.

Since Lost ended, Andrews starred in the UK series Sinbad. And he isn't the first Lost alum to star on one of Kitsis and Horowitz's Once Upon a Time series: Emilie de Ravin plays Belle, while Jorge Garcia guest-starred as the giant.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland premieres Thursday, Oct. 8 on ABC.