In the cliffhanger Season 1 finale of “Once Upon a Time,” the Storybrooke clock tower struck 8:15, a purple cloud consumed the town and with a single kiss of true love, The Curse had been broken.

“I thought the season finale was brilliant,” says Lana Parrilla, who plays the Evil Queen and mayor of Storybrooke. “There were rumours (on set) that the curse would be broken by the end of the season but I didn’t believe it until I read it.

“I thought that was quite bold but it made a great finale.”

With Season 2 airing on Sunday, September 30 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, what does the broken curse mean for the inhabitants of Storybrooke and the parallel fairytale world?

“I am so excited to see what happens between Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen . . . but I am also interested to see how she saves her relationship with (her son) Henry. It’s an important relationship in her life, it’s her one and only love, so I am curious to see how she is going to salvage the relationship,” says Parrilla.

Though Parrilla has many questions about how things are going to play out for her characters, she says the creators keep her and the rest of the cast in the dark about the Season 2 narrative arc.

 “Our writers purposely don’t tell us or give us any information because they want us to have the first time experience as the characters,” Parrilla says.

But even still, she can’t help but speculate as to what will happen: “My prediction is that Regina is going to find ways to use it in order to get Henry back, and then . . . probably destroy Mr. Gold.”

So how does Parrilla juggle the fantastical fairy tale world and the more pedestrian world of Storybrooke?

“I like to approach each world differently. I separate the scripts – on one side, I have Storybrooke and the other I have Fairytale Land and depending on if it’s a heavy mayor Regina script, I focus more on her.”

Though playing the villainous Evil Queen has its challenges, Parrilla reveals portraying the mayor is actually harder.

“I think she’s a much more complex women overall. She masks everything and hides behind that smile. There’s a lot going on in her eyes and the audience sees it but no one else really does.

“She has a lot of secrets so working through all that takes time.”

Parrilla says that she has had to find a way to make the Evil Queen multi-dimensional in order to make the character believable.

“It was a choice that I made very early on to I humanize this iconic classic fairy tale character. I thought if I didn’t find that then it wouldn’t work,” she says.

“I try in every episode to show more colours and more layers and more complexities in both characters . . . It’ll be a lot of fun now that the worlds are merging.”

"Once Upon A Time" airs on Sunday, September 30 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

About Lindsay Zier-Vogel

Lindsay Zier-Vogel has been working for CTV.ca since 2008. Lindsay’s highlights include interviewing the famed American choreographer Bill T. Jones and Canadian prima ballerina Karen Kain, as well as covering the Juno Awards. Follow her on Twitter!