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Jennifer Morrison was hired for the part of Emma Swan. The actress explained her character as someone who “help[s] this kid who seems like he’s a little bit emotionally dysfunctional,” but noted that Emma does not yet believe there is a fairytale universe.Ten-year old Jared Gilmore, known for his work on Mad Men, took the role of her son, Henry.  Eight years previous to the Once Upon a Time pilot (the two had just completed their work on Felicity, in 2002), Kitsis and Horowitz became inspired to write fairytales out of a love of “mystery and excitement of exploring lots of different worlds.”[9] They presented the premise to networks, but were refused because of its fantastical nature. The two learned from their time on Lost to look at the story in a different way, that “character has to trump mythology”;they expanded, “as people, you’ve got to see what the void in their heart or in their lives is to care about them… For us, this was as much about the character journeys and seeing what was ripped from them in coming to Storybrooke – going at it that way as opposed to making it the ‘break-the-curse show.’” Despite the comparisons and similarities to Lost, the writers intend them to be very different shows. To them, Lost concerned itself with redemption, while Once Upon a Time is about “hope”. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof aided in the development of the series as a consultant, but had no official credit for the pilot. To differentiate the storytelling from what the audience already knew, the writing staff decided to begin the pilot with the end of the typical Snow White fairytale. Themes concerning family and motherhood were emphasized, in contrast to the focus on fatherhood in Lost. Kitsis and Horowitz sought to write strong female characters, rather than the classic damsel in distress. Horowitz stated their desire to approach each character the same way, asking themselves, “How do we make these icons real, make them relatable?”

The show also has a similar premise to Bill Willingham’s comic series Fables, to which ABC bought the rights in 2008, but never made it past the planning stages. Horowitz and Kitsis have “read a couple issues” of Fables but state that while the two concepts are “in the same playground,” they believe they are “telling a different story.”      Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis conceived the show in 2004, prior to joining the writing staff of Lost, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project.  The episode Hat Trick contained numerous nods to Alice in Wonderland, many of which are specific to the original story rather than the Disney version. One of the memorable ones is when Mary Margaret overpowers the Hatter with the first thing that comes to hand, which happens to be a croquet mallet identical to the ones depicted in the Disney original. In the episode The Stranger when Pinocchio and Geppetto are on a raft in a storm, they are being chased by a giant whale, referencing the whale Monstro in the Disney 1940 film “Pinocchio”, whereas in the Carlo Collodi story it was a Great White Shark. In the same episode the Mad Hatter’s name, Jefferson, alludes to the 1960s psychedelia band Jefferson Airplane who had a hit record with the Alice in Wonderland inspired “White Rabbit”.

Horowitz stated that everyone they initially wanted cast in the series accepted their offered role after being sent a script.Ginnifer Goodwin was cast as Snow White, who appreciated that she would be playing a strong character that was fleshed out for the audience. The actress had just completed her work on the series Big Love, and was looking for a new project; she turned to television after film scripts failed to interest her. Having said previously in interviews that she would love to play Snow White, Goodwin called her acceptance of the Snow White role “a no-brainer.” Both Kitsis and Horowitz are self-described big fans of Big Love, and wrote the part of Snow White with Goodwin in mind.      [edit] Allusions  The role of the Evil Queen/Regina went to Lana Parrilla. She explained the character, “There’s always two stories being told when playing Regina. There’s the threat of her knowing she’s an evil queen and then there’s just the pure simple fact that the biological mother has stepped into her world and the threat of losing her son is just enormous. That’s a fear that I think any adopted mother would have. I think that’s going to really help the audience relate to Regina in some level.”

As a nod to the ties between the production teams of Once Upon a Time and Lost, the new show contains allusions to Lost, and is expected to be a continuing theme throughout the series. For example, many items found in the Lost universe, such as Apollo candy bars, Oceanic Airlines, and MacCutcheon Whisky, can be seen in Once Upon a Time. An “Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #3″ comic read by the character Henry in episode 9 was written by Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof. Also on display in Rumplestiltskin’s castle was the scythe featured near the end of the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, albeit colored differently. In episode 8 the true name of “The Dark One” is Zoso which is also one of the symbols in the album Led Zeppelin IV.  Joshua Dallas, who plays Prince Charming, was pleased the writers took “some dramatic license” with his character, believing the prince had become more real. He explained, “Prince Charming just happens to be a name. He’s still a man with the same emotions as any other man. He’s a Prince, but he’s a Prince of the people. He gets his hands dirty. He’s got a kingdom to run. He has a family to protect. He has an epic, epic love for Snow White. He’s like everybody else. He’s human.”

The show, as a production of Disney-owned ABC, contains multiple allusions to the Disney versions of the stories that form the basis for the series. Snow White’s dwarfs, unnamed in traditional versions of the story, here have the names they were given in the Disney film. Similarly, Sleeping Beauty was cursed by an individual named Maleficent, again the name used in the 1959 Disney film for the wicked fairy godmother that lacked a name in many other versions. Geppetto’s fairy friend is called The Blue Fairy as in the 1940 Disney film, which is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio, rather than The Fairy with Turquoise Hair, and his conscience figure is called Jiminy Cricket rather than “the Talking Cricket,” as in Carlo Collodi’s novel. Another allusion to the Disney universe is the name of Archie’s Dalmatian, “Pongo,” in reference to one of the main characters in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The Genie of the Lamp claims to hail from Agrabah, the central Location in the Disney animated film, Aladdin. When Snow White first meets Grumpy, he can be heard whistling the main chorus of “Heigh Ho” from the Disney film version of Snow White. Towards the beginning of “Heart of Darkness” as she sweeps the dwarfs’ cottage, Snow White is heard humming “With a Smile and a Song” another song from the Disney film. The episode “Skin Deep”, the hat worn by Mickey Mouse in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia can be seen on display in Rumplestiltskin’s castle. Also in this episode a tea cup with a chip in it is an allusion to the Chip character from Beauty and the Beast, an ornate clock as a reference to Cogsworth and a candelabra in reference to Lumière. The costuming and the character of Gaston were also a nod to the Disney animation. Another reference to Disney came in “What Happened to Frederick” where Henry is given Space Paranoids, a reference to the film Tron, whose logo can also be seen in Henry’s lunchbox in “The Stranger”. In “An Apple Red as Blood” The Shot of the Apple falling out of Snow White’s hand is reminiscent of the shot in Disney’s original “Snow White”.

Once Upon A Time Soundtrack – Mark Isham – Wedding Dance