Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-25926288-20170618043111/@comment-25926288-20170618095450

I believe Robert said that his relationship with Hook and Regina essentially will be entirely different. So, to me, it must be that they are playing different characters in some way. So, I believe that it's along the lines of S1.

I say S1 as opposed to Alternate Reality due to Dungey's words of "reboot" "new identities" "new city" "new curse" and Lana saying they'll "sort of play" a different character than they have.

I do think the "moving pawns here and there" strategy which we've seen through many seasons can pretty much put an axe in the idea. Like, that strategy sort of tosses these characters into random plots, plots that end to go nowhere, or risk destroying what's left of the character (Just look at Rumple. I infered from Robert's comments at a con that he sees Rumple as problematic and many fans see it as problematic, but through interviews, Adam and Eddy don't appear to think so.)

I think the AR/Wish Realm style character theory is a bit outlandish because that would just be idiotic as noone would care until they get reinvested.

ex. Lol, WR Belle is dead and none of us can conjure up a tear for her.

At least, that idea is very risky. I see "our favs are just cursed" as invested character stuck in same-old same-old versus "these guys are totally new" as brand new character that we don't  know or care facing something kind of new. AR version would probably sound better as a reboot and plot, but I can't see why continue a show if you truly axe off all but one main character (Henry). Like imagine if when Emma was stuck in WR that we stuck with her and the new wish people for the rest of season 6 and continued on, not revisiting SB again.

I don't know. I think there's a shot in either direction, but one risks boring people and the other risks uninvesting people.