Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27028649-20160403154105/@comment-24674051-20160406174557

Actually, many TV dramas will phase out and replace their main characters as the series "ages", including some that were the main focus stars when the series started. For example, House started out with Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, and a couple of others. As the series continued, Jennifer and Jesse were phased out and replaced with other characters (they still had a presence on the show, it was just greatly reduced). Or ER, which had completely replaced their original cast by the time the show left the air.

Point is, it is not uncommon to replace cast members as a show goes on, and this could easily happen here. You don't have to kill them off, just let them fade into the background.

Now, as to the theories, I like the idea of the March Hare, but that invokes a lot of Wonderland, and it would be nice to be able to have the wonderland associated characters available since Wonderland is an established Once Kingdom.

As to the reset, I wouldn't mind that a bit. and I think they could do it if they could develop some of the alternate story lines that they have aluded too over the past 5 Seasons (things like Sleeping Beauty, and Lily which is tangential to the SB story). In fact, maybe a gradual shift to the main characters being the Sleeping Beauty cast (like I was hoping they would do in Season 2), or a different story's cast, would be a good thing.