Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-1916997-20161031164333/@comment-24674051-20161102172608

Also, they have introduced a few new characters already that they have not followed up on. They have introduced (and shown) Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter), The 3 Musketeers, Tom Sawyer, and Goldilocks. None of these characters have been followed up on. They may, they may not, but the options are there.

And, not every episode needs to involve new characters. using the Season 1 format (which they seem to be following), there were episodes that dealt with more information associated with just the previously established main characters and the Main supporters. Episodes like Snow Falls, 7:15 AM, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Red-Handed etc). Yeah, even with these there were minor characters introduced, but there weren't what I would call major introductions that had not already occurred. Even episodes like "What Happened to Frederick" would fall into this, since Frederick is a really minor character, and we'd already met Abigail/Kathryn.

And I agree that I like that at least a few of the new characters have actually been allowed (by the writers) to hang around, fading into the urban Storybrooke background, to be called upon again when opportunity allows.