Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-26530885-20150625102942/@comment-24674051-20150625155443

First, don't look for ressurections. They've made it clear that dead is dead. Cora Died. Neal Died, Cruella Died. None of them will be back in the present.

Maleficent never died, though she was defeated. That was clear from Season 2 on. Zelena never completely died.

Of course, this is, as you say, a fairy tale world where almost anything is possible. But they have been fairly accurate with 2 of the laws of magic. One is that you can't make someone love you (although you can make them THINK they love you, it's not quite the same). and the Other is you Can't bring back the dead. People might claim they did that with Rumple, but as the Dark One, he could never die. The only characters that I am aware of that died and were brought back to life were Amara (when Cyrus and his brothers used the water from the well) and Ana (during the time when Jafar had broken the laws of magic, and also when Nyx allowed the water to be used to revive her). I will add David, when Snow cast the Dark curse.

However, as we saw in Mother, they can and will bring back Cora for flashbacks, when it makes sense to the storyline. Will she return in Season 5, who knows? but Cora has appeared in some form in all four seasons so far. (Barbara Hershey in seasons 1,2 and 4, and Rose McGowan in seasons 2 and 3.) so she has just as good a chance as anyone of making an appearance.