You'll Recognize 'OUAT's Cruella

The Once Upon a Time midseason finale promised the return of the Queens of Darkness to the series, so get ready for more of your favorite Disney characters to get the OUAT makeover. One of these villains will make you want to keep your dog on a very short leash: 101 Dalmatians' Cruella De Vil is returning to OUAT Season 4. The notorious villain will team up with Rumple, Ursula, and Malificent for the series' latest arc and, just like the other members of her evil squad, she isn't messing around. So who plays this fur-coated villainess? The actress who will give you that "sudden chill" Cruella is known for is Victoria Smurfit and she's someone you may recognize once you look past all of that fur.

Smurfit made her first appearance as De Vil in OUAT's "Heroes and Villains" midseason finale, but she's been on TV for much longer than that. The Irish actress — who's a member of the Smurfit family, one of the wealthiest families in Ireland — left the country to pursue an acting career in Hollywood in 2011, despite appearing in a number of mini-series and films across the pond. Since then, Smurfit's been on several television series. The actress appeared on one episode of the short-lived Ashley Judd drama Missing in 2012 and, in 2013, she secured a lead role on the NBC series Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the titular vamp. Smurfit played Lady Wetherby, a huntsman who falls for Dracula.

So now that we know the actress behind the fur coat, what will Cruella do on the series? We don't know too much about the character, but executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz did hint in an interview with TVLine that OUAT 's Cruella will be different from Disney's villain and that she'll have a "dollop of magic" in her. According to the producers, De Vil's magic will be tied to the article of clothing she wears on her back and, naturally, her magic will be "dark."

Luckily for all of you OUAT fans out there, we won't have to wait much longer to find out the truth about the series newest villain. Cruella De Vil — and Victoria Smurfit — will appear when Once Upon a Time returns from its (way too long) hiatus on March 20.

Images: Jack Rowand/ABC, Giphy