ONCE UPON A TIME is coming to an end after the current seventh season, ABC announced Tuesday.
“When we first heard Adam and Eddy’s pitch for Once Upon a Time, we knew it was something incredibly special,” said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey in a statement. “For seven years, they have captivated us with their creativity and passion while reimagining some of our most beloved Disney fairytales, creating an undeniable global hit. Saying goodbye will be bittersweet, but Once Upon a Time will forever be part of the ABC legacy and we can’t wait for fans to join us in this epic final chapter.”
The show will return with the second half of Season 7 in March, with the series finale set to air in May on ABC.
Season 7 saw the drama populated by fairy tale characters from the Disney family given a “reboot” wherein a new story began with most of the original cast members not returning after Season 6.
Creators and showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis stayed with the show, but with a move from Sundays to Fridays for the rebooted season, ratings for the once-popular drama fell over 35 percent.
The show once spawned a spinoff series, Once upon a Time in Wonderland, following Sophie Lowe as Alice, but that lasted only one season.
The ending of Once Upon a Time also comes at a time when ABC is also saying goodbye to Shondaland staple Scandal, which coincidentally is also wrapping up after seven seasons.
The network is also losing comedy The Middle, ending after nine seasons this year, leaving Grey’s Anatomy (14 seasons) and Modern Family (9 seasons) as the longest-running ABC scripted series on the air.
Linda Ge | TV Editor
