Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-1916997-20160108213203/@comment-4453062-20160110064230

Hmcooper4 wrote: The Gaston from Season 1 was in all of 2 scenes, and one was only long enough for Rumple to transform him into a Rose. So maybe 1 minute of actual on screen time at the most. Tom Ellis (Robin Hood) had much more screen time, and was much more essential to the episode he appeared in, so while the writers might not have had to explain the recasting, the effort was worth it.

Explaining the recast here is just pointless. They recast, let's just 'Let It Go!' at that. He's likely going play a bigger part in the Belle Episode this time around, so I'm fine with updating the casting. Not to mention, they didn't even explain Robin Hood's recasting in-show until Mid-Season 4. Explaining the change in appearance wasn't a priority, but they saw an opportunity when they created the 6 Leaved Clover of Oz for Zelena to use in the same episode. I think the biggest reason to even warrant explaining Robin Hood's change in appearance was because Tom Ellis' version didn't have the lion tattoo, when his arm was perfectly visible in one scene. With Gaston, there's really no reason to go out of their way explaining it.