Jennifer Morrison Reveals More Dark Swan Details

With only a little more than 24 hours until the Once Upon A Time Season 5 premiere, there's not too much left to talk about, right? We know that we're dealing with Emma as the Dark One, taking a trip to Camelot, and meeting Merida. We know that Regina is going to be the new hero, Charming is going to have a bromance with King Arthur, and Henry is going to get his first crush. We know that Zelena is having Robin Hood's baby and staying evil, that Mulan and Ruby are coming back, and that there'll finally be an LGBT relationship. That about covers it — but wait. While we're well aware of Emma's struggle with the darkness and her role as Rumple's evil replacement, there are still plenty of unanswered questions about the Dark Swan and her journey. Thankfully, Jennifer Morrison was on hand to tell us all about it in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.

While generally, stars are advised not to give too much away — and to her credit, Morrison doesn't give any major spoilers when it comes to her character's fate this fall — we have been given a bit more insight not only into what makes the new Dark One tick, but how she'll cope with her new role and the trouble it brings to those she loves.

Here are the 9 most important quotes from Morrison's interview that should shed some light on what's coming to us starting Sunday night.

On How Emma Will Be Different Now That She's Dark

"There was always this fight within her to be able to overcome things and try to be a stronger, better person, and now that she has this Darkness within her, her instincts are to be selfish, which has never been her instincts as good Emma. That immediately changes every decision, and it immediately changes the way that she is capable of being manipulative, and conniving, and vindictive."

It's not that the Emma we know and love is gone to us forever, just that she's being overshadowed by these awful impulses and this weight of evil that is the Dark One, latched onto her. I just hope they get it out of her before it's too late.

On How Storybrooke Will Cope Without The Savior

"The initial situation isn’t that she’s creating the mischief, it’s that she’s no longer helping them solve it."

Given that we'll be jumping around to different points in time, it's likely that Emma won't start out raising hell around Storybrooke, but she's also in no position to be playing the hero at the moment. Thankfully, we'll have Regina for that job while Emma is otherwise occupied.

On how Emma Will Cope Once She's No Longer The Dark One

"I think that she will clearly have regrets and things to overcome because of it, but I also think that there are going to be things that she learns about herself that will be important for her to know moving forward."

As long as she doesn't go too far — though Regina is proof that coming back from the ultimate darkness is indeed possible if you want it enough — then Emma can learn so much about who she is and her place in the world through this experience. It's going to be tough going, but no one's tougher than Emma Swan.

On Finding Merlin

"It’s complicated because the good part of her wants to find him, and then the part of her that’s dealing with Darkness doesn’t want the chance of being destroyed."

Well, they're going to find him in the end, so Emma had better get on board with it, whether she likes it or not. Deep down, she'll be grateful once they're able to stop the darkness in her for good, even if it doesn't seem like it in the moment.

On Emma's Kryptonite

"Henry (Jared Gilmore) is Emma’s kryptonite as Dark Swan, because that love is so pure and so strong."

Well, we know that. There is no greater love in Emma's life than the love she has for her son, and while this may be a great motivator in tethering her to the light, it may also cause her to inadvertently hurt those she loves most.

On Whether Emma Blames Regina For Her Predicament

"In terms of blaming her, initially, no. It’s more about the events that unfold after that that lead to resentments, because these are decisions that are being made while she has the instincts of Darkness within her."

This is pretty vague, as far as these things go, but it's clear that Emma trusts Regina implicitly — more than anyone else in her life, in fact — given that she hands over her dagger to Regina's care. That and the whole "sacrificing my immortal soul to protect your happy ending" thing, that is.

On How The Darkness Will Affect Her Most

"Her decision making is so clouded by that Darkness pursuing her, that her first reaction is to lean into how to destroy what hurt her or how to eliminate what’s in her way, which is completely the opposite of where she’s ever operated from when she’s been Emma."

This isn't so far from the Emma we've known all along. She doesn't get close to people because they always let her down. Wanting to destroy them altogether is just an extension of that feeling, though it's pretty safe to say the people who love her will stick around through this.

On Emma's Relationship With Her Parents

"We’re going to see Emma at different stages of her Darkness. We’re going to be seeing her all the way surrendered to it, next to her barely surrendered to it, next to her somewhere in the middle surrendered to it. Her relationship with her parents and her feelings about certain things are going to be more extreme based on what phase of the Darkness she’s in."

Things have been difficult between Emma and her parents for a while now, and for good reason. There are a lot of unresolved issues there, though solving them while she's the Dark One isn't necessarily a good idea...

On What The Dagger Means & Where It Comes From

"There’s definitely going to be more information on the mythology of the dagger, and there’s definitely going to be more information about previous Dark Ones, what it means to take on the Darkness and some of the rules and regulations of that mythology. Some of it comes out pretty quickly, and then some of it gets hung over our heads a little while through the first several episodes and then starts to come out slowly, but surely over time."

Now this, I'm excited for!

The season premiere of Once Upon A Time airs Sunday, September 27 on ABC, and it's pretty safe to say, it's going to be pretty amazing.

Images: Jack Rowand/ABC; Giphy