What's Coming for These 'Once Upon a Time' Couples?

One of the backbones of any good fairy tale, of course, is a good romance. On a show like Once Upon a Time, with so large of a core cast, there is no shortage of romance. However, with romance comes hard times, and this season it looks as though there will be no shortage of it in the near future. Here is what is in store for some of our favorite pairing on the show.

Rumbelle

Rumple and Belle have had no shortage of hard times throughout their entire run through the show. With Rumple making it so that Belle could no longer trust him, her dating someone else, and him nearly dying when the Dark One left his body, it seems as though these two cannot catch a break. According to Kitsis, this isn't going to change any time soon:

"I think there is going to be a lot of Rumbelle drama ahead of us. We obviously know that Rumple is trying very hard to change his ways to win her back, and I guess we're going to have to find out whether it's too late."

Although it is claimed that he has been made into a hero behind the scenes photos do suggest otherwise. We will see if the status will last and what that means for the pair.

Snowing

As a fan of the pair, and the chemistry that the two actors have, it has been nice to see the King and Queen of the Enchanted Forest have more to do then just take care of their son... Though that does beg the question of where Little Neal has been all this time. Now they are spending time worrying about their eldest. Adam Horowitz goes into detail about this stating

"There are certainly some familial challenges ahead for the Charmings, which they deal with together."

Although they have had some squabbles where King Arthur is considered, their love has never died down.

"They are true love so, for us, we’ve always wanted to take them from icon to a real couple. You know, the very first thing after the pilot, we saw them fight as a couple and so, for us, we always like to portray them as a real relationship."

Swanqueen

Though the pairing is not actually canon, the writers have taken great pains to give Emma and Regina a solid friendship and storyline of their own together, that has and will continue to grow. Says Horowitz:

"I think that the Emma-Regina friendship/relationship continues to grow and deepen as they go through more and more together. We’re going to certainly see some charged scenes between the two of them as we head towards the mid-season finale."

Outlawqueen

While Regina and Robin haven't had much to do together this season, don't think that the writers have forgotten about them!

"Robin Hood is going to play a continuing part in this story, and in a more pronounced way, as the season progresses."

Part of that, of course, will have to do with Zelena, Regina's sister and the one carrying his child.

"You're going to see them work together as a couple. You know, we've never portrayed Zelena as any sort of romantic threat and that will continue, but we'll also continue having to see them deal with Zelena, who is quite clearly out of her mind."

While we haven't seen much of them in a while, their love story is a great one, and could be one of the strongest on the show if given the chance. There is, however, the fact that Regina has already had one great love and was never quite willing to let go of that.

"When we saw Regina with Daniel, he told her to love again, and she is," Kitsis continued. "So I would like to think that all of our relationships are pretty meaningful."

Captainswan

A month ago I reported that Emma and Hook were going to have some tough times ahead, but that everything she was doing she was doing for Hook. TVLine were able to confirm this idea with a video, and we will see the show go deeper into what is going on and what Emma's reasons are. This pairing has been seeing almost as much pain as Rumple and Belle, and it looks like things won't be letting up any time soon. Kitsis teased

"I would say that definitely the next three episodes will have some Captain Swan drama...I think like all drama, they will run the gambit. I will say, if you like Captain Swan, I would keep watching."

The ring that Hook gave Emma will end up coming to play in the future, as we explore more of Hook's past in the coming episodes. Though we don't know who, it is someone that has shown up before. We will also be seeing much more of Hook's past in correlation with the ongoing Dark Swan Saga

"It's less about dealing with the Dark One as his girlfriend, and more that Hook's own past becomes more important and informs what's going to happen going forward in relation to Emma and what she's going through."

All of the relationships are going through hard times, it seems, but there is always a ray of "hope" as Mary Margaret would say

"I think all the relationships on the show, at their core, have an element of hope and can be a true love and have great things happen to them. Of course, sometimes in life, it doesn't always work out but sometimes it does, so there's always that hope that it will."

Going forward

While the midseason finale usually means the conclusion to one part of the season's story arc, don't expect things to not be affected by Emma being the Dark One.

"Some elements of the story are wrapped up, but the reverberations of [the Dark Swan storyline] are felt throughout the rest of the season. So it's not like it's a completely self-contained half of the season where everything that happened is closed off and we're starting completely new. They're more directly connected in terms of what happens in the second half of the season than we've done in the past."

Let's hope that love, and a hero's will, will be able to help those in Storybrooke keep the peace as well as their love intact.

[Sources: TV Line, Entertainment Tonight]