How Will Robin Hood Survive In 'OUAT' Season 5?

I'm going to come straight out and say it: I'm most certainly not a Robin Hood fan. When it comes to Once Upon A Time Season 5, he's the aspect I'm looking forward to the least, despite what a predicament he seems to be in. As I'm sure we all remember (however much we wish we could forget), Zelena assumed the identity of the murdered Marian and became pregnant, so she'll soon be giving birth to Robin's child. Because Robin is honorable (and because it's not an innocent child's fault that it was conceived from rape), he's vowed to be a good father to the baby, but has also decided that he wants to make a real go of it with Regina — a decision which is most certainly ill-fated, but I suppose we should give him credit for trying. The question is, how will Robin cope when his whole world is turned upside down yet again in Season 5?

I have no doubts that Robin means well — unless, of course, they decide to throw in a major twist and make it out that he's been in cahoots with Zelena in some evil master plan all along — but as the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That's not to say that a man can't have a relationship with a child he fathered with one woman while pursuing an active relationship with another, but just that doing so is complicated and will require some serious juggling skills — not to mention the ability to avoid being manipulated — that I'm not entirely sure Robin actually has. Sean Maguire is certain that his character is fully dedicated to his love for Regina (despite not truly knowing her at all), telling Entertainment Weekly, "There’s no confusion in my head playing him, he loves Regina and only Regina. If anything, he’s more clear about his objective that he loves Regina. He sees Henry and Roland and her as a family now.” Eh...

Let's be real here when it comes to the status of Outlaw Queen. Regina and Robin came together because Robin has a tattoo that Tinkerbelle once matched up with Regina's soulmate when she used stolen fairy dust several decades before. That does not a soulmate make. Plus, they don't actually know each other in any real way — none that the audience has been privy to, anyway — and given Regina's rather complicated past, you'd think really delving deep would be an important aspect of the soulmate relationship. Instead, Robin doesn't seem to mind all that much that Regina is responsible for murdering his wife and robbing Roland of his mother. Never mind that it was eventually Zelena who actually killed her — had Emma not changed the timeline when she fell through Zelena's portal and brought Marian back with her to Storybrooke, she'd have died at the Evil Queen's hands as she originally had. Redemption and forgiveness is one thing, but Robin didn't seem to think twice about it, which makes me think one thing: "HUH?"

In addition to the above, plus the fact that his child with Zelena is going to be born in a few short months, there's also the elephant in the room that will likely be the end of Outlaw Queen: Emma becoming the Dark One. Why would this affect Regina and Robin, you ask? Well, given that Regina is the new hero of Storybrooke and the one whom Emma's loved ones trust to rescue her — not to mention the one Emma herself trusts with the dagger, i.e. her life — there isn't going to be much time for playing footsie and trysts in the vault. No one likes playing second fiddle in their partner's life, but playing second fiddle to the former Savior, with whom Regina shares a child and much else besides? Yikes.

"Robin, like a lot of our characters you’re going to see, is swept up in a tornado of events that really force everyone to — not forget about the things they’re dealing with — but have a whole new circumstance and crisis to deal with," executive producer Adam Horowitz explained. "Where, in the case of Robin Hood, his relationship with Regina, the fact that Zelena is pregnant with his child, all that stuff remains, but is now complicated by the new situation he and everyone finds themselves in."

The "new situation" is, of course, Emma going dark. Sean Maguire was made a regular for Season 5 along with Rebecca Mader, so it's clear that both Robin and Zelena will play a big part of whatever's going down this fall, but how far can things really go with Robin and Regina? How will Robin handle fathering a child with the Wicked Witch? These are questions we can't possibly answer, but something tells me things won't quite turn out how anyone would have hoped at the end of it.

Images: Jack Rowand/ABC