Just because someone is dead on Once Upon a Time doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. 

 

After the series regular’s Robin Hood was killed off in the season-five finale, Sean Maguire has booked his return to the ABC fairy tale drama, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

Robin was killed by Hades’ (Greg Germann) Olympian crystal. He died in an act of True Love to save Regina (Lana Parrilla), who finally came to terms with his death in the season-six premiere.

This is not the same situation as what happened with Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) returning from the dead in the Underworld, though. Hades told Regina that Robin’s soul was “obliterated” and he wouldn’t go to the Underworld, but she found hope in the premiere that her love is in a better place. 

 

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Either way, co-creator Eddy Kitsis told reporters at a recent screening that they’re “not going to the Underworld this year” and that “dead is dead.” He continued, “We’ve had loss on this show, we’ve had people come back…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 kind of what makes her Regina.”

 

Maguire — who was a series regular in season five — will recur in season six, but he hopes it won’t be in flashbacks. “I feel that if we were to have explored some of the stuff that was alluded to when I was there, I don’t know how much we could cover in a flashback or something like that,” he previously told THR after his departure. “I will go on record and say ‘never say never,’ but at the moment, it doesn’t feel like something that is on the horizon.”

 

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However, this may give Maguire a chance to explore and develop his character more in a different way. “I felt like it was an abrupt end; I didn’t feel the character had any development this year and wasn’t really written for,” he told THR. 

 

EW first reported the news of Maguire’s return. “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,” showrunners Adam Horowitz and Kitsis told EW.

 

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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