Well this is interesting. ABC are considering spinning Once Upon A Time‘s Mad Hatter into his own series, according to Deadline.
The initial idea was to do it with Sebastian Stan who portrayed the character for six episodes. However, scheduling commitments with his Broadway production Picnic and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have curtailed those notions, so the network is looking to recast the character.
It’s possible the Mad Hatter could initially return as a guest star in an upcoming episode of Once, which could be used as a back portal pilot should his appearance and storyline be well received.
Another scenario has the alphabet filming a short presentation with the character.
In either scenario, it seems the network is seriously considering launching a Mad Hatter spinoff centered on the character, which could be interesting for all kinds of seriable reasons.
Not least the continuity and expansion potential of the character’s arc. With his Wonderland backstory not completely resolved (though some may argue otherwise), and with his untold journeys to other realms, he’s one of the more fertile Once Upon A Time characters outside of the main crop.
Of course, a spinoff allows deviation from the original canvass, but it also offers significant cross-over potential — particularly as Once co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are overseeing the spinoff idea and would serve as showrunners on both series. Given that story ‘connectivity’ is Once‘s strength, you’d think they’d be looking to interweave the two stories where possible, should Mad Hatter get the greenlight.
Disney-owned Marvel is currently doing interesting things with its cinematic universe, and this could be one way for the Disney-owned network to expand its fairytale/OUAT franchise.
We’ll keep you in the loop.
Thanks to Rick for the heads-up.
Anyone else with me nominating Seth Gable as the new Mad Hatter? He certainly favors Sebastian Stan, and he has the right Je ne sais quois.
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Seth Gable is an excellent choice!
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Sebastian Stan will be greatly missed. :/ His role as the Mad Hatter is what introduced me to Stan and I’ve since seen him in a few other movies and shows. He’s a pretty splendid actor. I’m glad to hear that he has good and consistent work coming up.
As for a Mad Hatter spin-off… Eh… The Mad Hatter is one of my favorites, but I’m not sure if a spin-off is the best of ideas. I see no reason why the characters’ arc can’t be continued and resolved in the main show. I’m not sure of this franchise is interesting enough for this kind of deeper exploration. Of course, if this does happen, I’ll check it out, but I won’t have my hopes held high at all. The main show is already medicore enough.
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I feel the same way. I seems a little early in the show’s history to be thinking spin-off just yet. I do like the story of Wonderland being attached to Once, but not as a major arc. I also find Once a little lackluster this season vs the first season. The reveal of Baelfire was VERY predictable. I had it figured out from the casting last summer. Of course there still could be some twists involved with his character. I also find the story of Dr Frankenstein sort of too alien for this show. All that aside, I still look forward to the show every Sunday, so it is doing something right to keep me engaged. Once is at its best when it is following the stories of Regina, Emma, Snow, Charming, and Rumples. All other characters are filler episodes to me.
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I’m still really indifferent about Wonderland and the Enchanted Forest being connected. There’s stories that could be pulled from there, but I don’t think they’d be stories worth pulling. A spin-off should follow important events/characters that the main show just doesn’t have enough time to exploit, not be it’s own thing set in a universe that just barely takes place in the same continuity.
OUAT has always been extremely predictable and I wouldn’t ever expect that to change. That said, I was also disappointed in the Baelfire reveal. The second we saw him in the season premiere, Baelfire popped into my mind. Henry’s father came later for me, as I always deemed the notion of Henry’s father’s identity to be a bit irrelevant. I don’t like the idea that Henry’s father and Baelfire’s son are one and the same. It goes well with making everyone family, but I get annoyed when we’re teased of two separate characters, only to learn that they’re indeed one character. Oh well. I do very much look forward to seeing what they do with Neal/Baelfire. There could be some great things to accomplish with his individual arc and his relationships with Rumpelstiltskin, Emma and Henry.
I’m also still indifferent about the Dr. Frankenstein sub-plot. I actually like how alien it is to what we’ve seen thus far. My only concern is where the sub-plot goes in the long run. Something so alien needs to be much more impactful for me. I’m glad to see that Whale has stepped up his prominence this year and actually had one of the few plot-twists that I wasn’t expecting. I didn’t think we’d ever learn his Fairytale identity, let alone find out that he was Frankenstein, of all people! I hope he gradually becomes a more and more pivotal character throughout the series. Like I said, it just needs to have some sort of big impact, otherwise it’ll just feel like poorly executed pandering. I have my fingers crossed on this one.
Oddly enough, I can’t stand most of the main characters, or their stories… Henry, Regina, Charming… Ugh. I can tolerate Emma and Snow. I just find most of the core characters to be unbelievable, unlikable and wishy-washy on their motivations. I love Rumpelstiltskin! I feel more invested in most of the supporting characters and actually enjoy most of the “filler” episodes as some of the show’s strongest. I love Belle, Ruby, Mad Hatter, Grumpy, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Hook and Archie. Cora is unbearably annoying. And I’m curious to see what happens with Mulan and Aurora. Whatever happened to Hansel and Gretel? I liked them for that whole one episode they were in… And Cinderella and Astrid/Nova… :/
All said and done, I’m definitely invested enough in the Mad Hatter to follow more stories with him. But I’m still wary of whether those stories truly warrant a spin-off, rather than some deuterocanonical thing to bridge the summer hiatus. I’ll try to reserve judgement until we see what happens.
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“I’m not sure of this franchise is interesting enough for this kind of deeper exploration”.
I don’t believe I would be lured into watching a spinoff. As it stands now, I’d rather be watching Robert Carlyle in S4 of SGU.
Still, I watch OUAT every week.
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