Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-6207588-20130209135913/@comment-6175354-20130212001251

Ravensong77 wrote: If Neal was meant to be Emma's end game romance at the end of the series I think they would have hired MRJ as a regular...right now he's just a recurring guest star with an option of returning next season. I hate to say that because I really liked their romance. It is one of the reasons I don't want him to have a girlfriend. We have no guarantees he'll be back next season and I would  like to see them together again as a couple before he's gone.

I suppose it's possible that they may have made him a regular and kept it under wraps thinking that revealing that would say too much about where they were going with his character but I don't know if they would really do something like that. Maybe the story OUaT will be telling, is sometimes one's destiny is more important than True Love. While it may not be a happy tale, it is satisfying.