Naveen Andrews joins Once:Wonderland to play a character with a dark and twisted agenda

Another LOST alumni joins the OUAT family of shows. Naveen Andrews, the British actor who played Sayid in LOST, will be joining Once:Wonderland from its very first episode, airing Thursday, October 10, 2013, at 8 pm. This is his first role on U.S. television since LOST.

He will play Jafar, who was the villain in Disney’s 1992 film Aladdin. In the interview in the video below, which took place at ComicCon, Naveen says that Jafar has a “rather dark and twisted agenda that will affect all the characters in the show.” The interviewer asks, “But maybe a soft side?” Naveen answers, “That remains to be seen.”

I never saw Disney’s Aladdin, but I found a 10-minute clip on YouTube, which I’ve posted below. I think Naveen Andrews is perfect for the part — I can absolutely see him playing this character.

So now we know that Once:Wonderland, just like Once:Original, is going to be creating mashups of characters taken from different stories and films. Much as I’m glad to know that Naveen Andrews will be back on our TVs, and as fantastic as I think he will be in this role, I’m not so sure I want to see extraneous Disney characters brought into the Alice stories. I guess the spinoff will be more like the original show, at least in that respect, than I had expected.

Unless I’m forgetting someone, the LOST alumni count at this point including Naveen is five. In the original OUAT, there’s Alan Dale (Charles Widmore/King George), Jorge Garcia (Hurley/Anton the Giant), Lana Parrilla (guest role as an Other in LOST Season 3/Regina), and Emilie de Ravin (Claire/Belle).