Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26443838-20161212210741/@comment-25375217-20170109033445

Heart of Gold might be a better comparison, yeah. But keep in mind that Zelena was present in The Bear King.

Heart of Gold and The Bear King were both centered mostly around minor ongoing plots with little main character involvement. Heart of Gold had Rumple and Regina at the beginning and the end but focused on Robin, who was not a main at the time, continuing the ongoing OutlawQueen and Return-of-Marian plot, but ignoring the Queens of Darkness, the Author, and the attempts to turn Emma dark. The Bear King reintroduced Ruby, a core character from Season 2, and Mulan, while also continuing the ongoing Merida and King Arthur plots while ignoring the Dark Swan/Dark Hook plots.

This will likely be like that: no continuation on Gideon or the Black Fairy, but focus on the ongoing Agrabah and Savior arcs with reintroduction of Ariel, Eric, Nemo, and Liam.