Once Upon a Time Bosses Explain Aladdin and Emma's Savior Parallels

Fans were very excited to hear that Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) would be joining the fairy-tale world of Once Upon a Time this season -- but it may not be the happy story they remember from the nostalgic Disney film.

In fact, the opening scene of Season 6 presents a much darker storyline for Aladdin, who turns out to be a savior just like the show's main hero Emma (Jennifer Morrison). Aladdin's downtrodden state when fans first meet him is a warning sign for what's to come for Emma, and show creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis agree they should be worried.

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"We learn very quickly that Aladdin was once a savior, just like Emma. There is a direct connection between what Aladdin went through in our version of the tale, and what Emma goes through in her story," Horowitz tells TVGuide.com

In fact, Season6 will explore the Savior mythology in a similar way to the Dark One history Once unveiled last season. According to Jafar (Oded Fehr), the fate of saviors is to give and give to the people they are meant to save until there is almost nothing left of themselves to give. Sounds like a wonderful job perk, right?

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On top of constantly being on-call to save the day, Jafar's presence is a reminder that every Savior has their ultimate villain. It's Jafar for Aladdin, but who would that person be for Emma? It turns out that Emma's ultimate villain -- besides herself -- is coming back in a very big way this season.

"We've seen in the past that Emma's Jafar was always the Evil Queen. Now that she's out there somewhere, I would be worried about that," Kitsis teases.

Is Emma ready to change the fate of saviors, or has the constant fighting for her life and for Storybrooke taken her to the end of her rope?

Once Upon a Time returns Sunday, Sept. 25 at 8/7c.