Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4481932-20161217025251/@comment-24674051-20170502045033

oh? Why not? if Jaime Murray were to be promoted to regular along with the other 2 characters to be revealed in 2 weeks, and only have Emma, Killian, and Regina remaining as regulars, that alone indicates at least a major switch in the story line. Combined with the fact that the original story line would be complete (according to what is being set up) any thing going forward is almost by definition going to be a soft reboot. We already know that (I believe) that Ginny and Josh are not returning except for possible guest starring roles, and with what happened with Zelena, I can't see her character having any major impact. Belle is already more or less relegated to the background, and this could just finish that process.

So you essentially get over half the cast replaced, the main cast reduced in size, and one member of the main cast set as the villain. Not sure about anyone else, but that sure sounds like a soft reboot to me.