Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-26159109-20170317173209/@comment-25926288-20170514182914

Chameleon-Guy wrote: So what's the point of dropping them if they still appear a lot? I'm confident they will return as guests but not in 10 episodes for sure. And Jen only agreed to do 1 episode, and she said that's all she can promise. Money.

The other actors and actresses can always come back as guest stars if available. It's not impossible as Bex did that in 3 and then came back in 4B, before becoming a regular. Some are pretty absent (to a fault) like Zelena, Belle and Henry sometimes, so pay them? ABC may not think so. Plus, I think the shows trying to use some old characters to help support the new characters in the spotlight.