Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-5899967-20150912000118/@comment-25926288-20150921121132

Edzz wrote: In this interview it states that we will NOT be meeting Merlin in episode one. Anyone else confused??

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/08/once-upon-time-hot-seat-season-5-spoilers We won't meet him, but we will see him.

This more so means that he will be in the background and they won't introduce him as Merlin until a later episode.