OUAT’s Christie Laing Dishes About the New Season – and More!

Image credit: Kyla Hemmelgarn

The Wicked Witch of the West is gone for good. Snow White and Prince Charming welcomed Baby Charming (also known as Neal) into the world. Their other child, Emma, went back in time with Captain Hook, and brought back Robin Hood’s formerly dead wife Maid Marian with her to Storybrooke.

These are just a few of the shocking events that transpired on the season 3 finale of ABC’s smash hit Once Upon a Time back in May, and now that the season 4 premiere is just around the corner, The Hudsucker couldn’t wait to ask Maid Marian herself—Canadian starlet Christie Laing, as she’s known in our world—what we could expect to see when it returns.

“It’s going to be a very chilly introduction,” Laing teases. “I think fans will be on the edge of their seats for the entire premiere.”

By ‘chilly’, there’s no doubt she’s referring to the major twist that was revealed at the very end of last season’s finale. When the episode ended with a vial of mysterious liquid spilling and solidifying into the familiar figure of Frozen’s Queen Elsa, thousands of fans took to social media to express their surprise and excitement.

A sentiment, Laing admits, she is personally familiar with. “Since finding out that Frozen would be coming to OUAT, I have become a Frozen fan,” she enthuses. All summer long, Laing’s been buzzing about the introduction of Elsa and Anna on her Twitter (you can follow her at @ChristieLaing), and taking the valuable opportunity to connect with international supporters along the way. “It has been very exciting to see the Frozen fans come from absolutely everywhere,” she says.

However, not every Once fan has welcomed Laing’s return to the show with such fervour. Over the course of the third season, Robin Hood and the (formerly) Evil Queen, Regina, began to fall for each other—and fans quickly fell for them in kind, lovingly referring to the pairing as Outlaw Queen. Laing’s character, Marian, had passed away off-screen back in season 2, and did not appear to be an obstacle to Outlaw Queen’s happiness—until Emma’s little trip back in time brought Marian back to life, and straight back into Robin’s arms.

As a result, Outlaw Queen shippers have been wary of Christie Laing’s reappearance on the show, and are already shouting for Marian’s re-execution. Laing, however, is unperturbed. “I do believe that Robin and Marian deserve a happy ending,” she says. “Even if it’s not exactly the ‘happy ending’ fans are expecting.”

On that matter, we’ll have to wait until the season premiere airs on September 28 to see what happens. In the meantime, Laing has been working on another exciting series that will be airing on Lifetime later this year.

Based on the short film Sequin Raze, the new Lifetime series Un-Real will focus on the behind-the-scenes production of a Bachelor-esque dating competition. Laing, who portrays the role of Shamiqua, has nothing but praise for the upcoming show. “The minute I read the character description for Shamiqua, I had a very strong sense of knowing who she is,” she says. “There’s a lot of truth in the writing and I think the viewers of Un-Real will really appreciate that.”

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Follow Christie Laing on Facebook and Twitter. For more information and updates on Once Upon A Time, be sure to follow the ABC smash hit on Facebook and Twitter, and pick up the first three seasons of the show, now available on DVD.