'Once Upon a Time' season 6 will adopt new storytelling format, abandon split-season structure

The upcoming sixth season of the fantasy series "Once Upon a Time" will give its storytelling structure a revamp as the show will veer away from the half-season storyline format which it employed and operated on for the preceding seasons. "Once Upon a Time" season 6 will instead revisit its old method of narration which is the season-long structure.

According to The Entertainment Weekly, "Once Upon a Time" executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis disclosed that the plotline of the next season will not be fragmented into two halves.

Kitsis elaborated on how the imminent sixth season will differ from the previous seasons, saying, "It's not going to be Hyde comes to town, we fight with him for 10 episodes, and then in the winter finale, he dies and we move on." He further added that the changes to be integrated into the show this year will include heading back to the "season 1 mentality of small town stories and smaller arcs."

Horowitz explained that the show is planning on delivering a 22-episode story, which will distinguish season 6 from the past seasons when fans were accustomed to having them split into two halves — the first half aired in the fall confined in one story and the other half aired in the spring covering an entirely different storyline.

It can be remembered that "Once Upon a Time" started this half-season format in the third season wherein the trip to Neverland was the focus of the first half and Zelena the Wicked Witch of Oz was central in the second. During the fourth season, the show first featured the characters of "Frozen" then later moved on to Maleficent, Cruella and Ursula. Likewise, the first half of season 5 concentrated on Emma's Dark Swan while the remaining half witnessed the trip of the Storybrooke heroes to the Underworld.

In "Once Upon a Time" season 6, viewers will discover more from the Land of Untold Stories.

"That's actually providing the opportunity to look at our characters in a different way," Horowitz commented on the changes in the show's format.

"Once Upon a Time" will be back on ABC to deliver more fairytales this coming fall.