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Suddenly

ABC’s Once Upon A Time Casts Mulan And Sleeping Beauty For Season 2

by Jill Pantozzi | 4:00 pm, July 7th, 2012


Well this is really awesome news. ABC’s hit fairytale drama Once Upon a Time has cast two new literary characters to their ranks – Mulan and Sleeping Beauty! Actresses Jamie Chung and Sarah Bolger get to bring the leading ladies to life. Hit the jump for more details! 

I’ve been wondering what the folks at OUAT were planning for Season 2. Season 1 consisted of a lot of stories for a lot of characters, though a few key figures were missing, and things were left on an interesting cliffhanger in the finale episode. Well we now know they’ll be adding at least two fan-favorite characters to the mix.

Entertainment Weekly reported ex-Real World castmember, current actress, Chung (Sucker Punch, Hangover 2) would be playing Mulan. They say she’s expected to have a recurring role and is described “as having been trained in weaponry, tracking and riding, but ‘has a spirituality that enhances her tactical and strategic abilities. She has suffered past betrayals, so her trust is hard-won, but once she gives her oath of friendship her loyalty knows no boundaries.’ Also, ‘when she falls in love, she falls hard.’”

Mulan of course was an animated hit for Disney in 1998 but was based on the Chinese poem about Hua Mulan, a young woman who dressed like a man and took her aging father’s place in the army.

Former child actress Bolger (In America, The Tudors) is set to play Sleeping Beauty. TVLine had the news and named her as Princess Aurora. It’s interesting timing considering the updated take Disney is doing on the big screen with Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent. We’ve seen the character played on the show already by True Blood’s Kristin Bauer van Straten and I, for one, have been eagerly anticipating Aurora’s arrival.

EW writes, “The Once Upon version of Aurora is described a spoiled girl from a privileged background who’s willing to ‘sacrifice everything for love.’” Will we see her put Storybrook to sleep with a spinning wheel?

The descriptions may be talking about love for both of these new additions but don’t worry about them. The creators of the show have a good handle on their female characters.

“We did not want to have the damsel in distress,” writer Adam Horowitz told the Hero Complex earlier this year. “We did not want to have the princess who needs saving.” Co-writer Edward Kitsis added, “We were interested in writing really tough women that were not afraid to use power because we feel like that’s what’s relevant today and that’s what’s interesting as writers.”

Anyone who watches OUAT knows the ladies of Storybrook are fierce. Personally, I can’t wait to see where they go with Season 2. Now if they’ll just give us a premiere date…

(via Fempop and Deadline)

Previously in Once Upon A Time

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  • http://twitter.com/bamboo_princess bamboo_princess

    Pumped to see a woman of color coming into the plot. 

  • Daniel Dellinger

     Agreed. I know it’s supposed to be a small town in Maine and whatnot, but come on!

  • http://twitter.com/GeekLock Dingo

    The curse is real!

  • Lua Boschman

    Mulan is Chinese, so why is she wielding a Japanese katana?  Shouldn’t she have a dao or a jian?

  • Rosina Campbell

    I guess that’s just a shot from some other project the actress did.

  • Rosina Campbell

    The more news I hear, the more excited I get. I need this show back in my life. 

  • Lua Boschman

     Ah, thanks

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ROVPV7XLP6R5SWRQIP7X2VZLNI Theodor

    ?!?!?!? Hua Mulan may be a legendary figure but that doesn’t make her a fairy tale character. Why not introduce characters from the Iliad as well? What is the logic behind this?

  • http://www.thenerdybird.com/ Jill Pantozzi

    Disney owns the rights. Fans like her. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=615763230 Cherry Davis

    I want a BLACK Princess!!! I’m happy they’ve cast an Asian woman but COME on!  I’m a fan of color (FOC) and I want a show that is reflective of society.  Sleeping beauty doesn’t have to be white since she’s not even blonde.  They could have a Latina or Middle Eastern woman … I hope they will add more cast members of color since they no longer have the mirror!

  • http://www.facebook.com/JoshDeloss Josh Schaeffer

    Yea I believe its from her role in Samurai Girl

  • Anonymous

    Springing off your idea and assuming that they are using the poem of Hua Mulan and not the movie, they could easily encapsulate fairy tales of different cultures. There are so many and this would be such an excellent opportunity to introduce “new” characters to the American public. 

  • Anonymous

    “Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow. Dishonor on your whole family!”

    Mulan is the bomb-diggidy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/LaDracul Joanna Boese

    I disagree. The big thing is, there is evidence out there she existed in our world, but since the records are so far back, it’s hard to tell. That’s the problem…they think just because they made a movie about her, they can just shove her in. Would it have been so hard to look up other Asian folktale characters who are FICTIONAL? Kaguya-hime would’ve made WAY more sense, but aside from “Avatar the Last Airbender”, no one knows the story. But an otherworldly princess with control over nature would’ve been WAY more interesting. Half the season is gone, and I’m not alone in saying this was a bad idea. The people who watch aren’t idiots and will look this stuff up.

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