Credits for “The Return”

Rumpelstiltskin's dagger, from promo at the end of the last episode

After the winter hiatus, the show came back with Desperate Souls, which told the first part of the backstory of Rumpelstiltskin and his son. Now, after the spring hiatus, it is coming back with The Return, which will probably pick up where Desperate Souls left off.

Both Desperate Souls and The Return were written by Jane Espenson, who also wrote That Still Small Voice (Jiminy Cricket’s backstory), Skin Deep (Beauty and the Beast — Belle and Rumpelstiltskin), and Red Handed (Ruby/Red, the Wolf). All were outstanding episodes, and I expect The Return will be too.

The director is Paul Edwards. It’s the second episode he directed on OUAT — the first was That Small Still Voice. He did a lot of work on LOST, where he was a camera operator for eight episodes in Seasons One and Two and was the director for 10 episodes in Seasons Two through Six.

Dylan Schmid and Robert Carlyle, behind the scenes on the set of Once Upon a Time

Dylan Schmid returns as Rumpelstiltskin’s son Baelfire. According to IMDB, the only professional acting he has done so far, aside from OUAT and some work on the stage, was for an episode of Fringe that aired this January.

Reminder: I’m trying to stay unspoiled for this episode (actually, for all the episodes going forward, at least through the season finale), so if you’ve watched the sneak peek(s) or have heard about what’s going to happen in any greater detail than what’s discussed above, please don’t give anything away until Sunday at 9:00 ET.