'OUAT' Season 5 Casts Liam Garrigan As King Arthur

Is it just me, or does summer seem to be taking its good old time this year? Generally that's a good thing for most people, as it means sunshine, vacations, swimming, or whatever it is people who love summer do in what is, to me, the most miserable season — particularly because all of my favorite shows are on hiatus and that means Once Upon A Time Season 5 still doesn't start for nearly another three months. As the days pass, we're getting to know a little bit more about what to expect when ABC series returns in September, with the most recent news being that British actor Liam Garrigan has been cast as King Arthur, meaning this whole Camelot thing is really starting to come to life.

If you're not familiar with Garrigan, perhaps you're familiar with some of his former projects, which include (but certainly aren't limited to) 24: Live Another Day and The Pillars of the Earth. Showrunners were looking for a handsome Brit to fill the role of the legendary King Arthur, and Garrigan fit the bill, so that's at least one of the new roles filled — we're still waiting to find out who will take on Guinevere and Merlin. Oh, and don't forget that Sinqua Walls will return as Lancelot for Season 5, as well, so we should probably prepare ourselves to spend a good deal of time outside of Storybrooke. As Once executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis told Entertainment Weekly, "As we do on Once Upon a Time, we’re doing our own twist on Camelot, on Arthur’s background and on his relationships with Merlin, Guinevere and Lancelot." Sounds exciting!

While we have no idea how big of a role Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot's roles will be in Season 5 or how far into their histories we'll delve, it's only natural that we'd meet the classic characters since we found out that the guy we're looking for — the Sorcerer, who was revealed to be Merlin during Season 5 — is likely in the same kingdom. And given that we've got to get to Merlin if we want any chance of restoring Emma to her former Savior self and getting rid of the Dark One for good, it's likely that our Storybrooke favorites would run into the Camelot crew on their journey. How those interactions will go and what trouble could arise from it (because you know there will be trouble) is anyone's guess, but I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.

I'm sure in the next few weeks, we'll be hearing more casting news, as we still need to find our Guinevere and, most importantly, Merlin — though I wouldn't be surprised if they kept the latter under wraps in order to allow the character to make a bigger, more impactful entrance come fall. Whatever happens, it should be interesting to see what new connections form between the old and new characters, especially considering that Storybrooke has existed in a bit of a bubble these past 30 years or so. Bring on Season 5.

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