Once Upon a Time Is Finally Leaving Disney Fairy Tales Behind

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Sunday's season finale of Once Upon a Time read at your own risk!]

Once Upon a Time is going beyond fairy tales and Disney properties into a world of their own making.

The show opened up the ability to start creating original fairy tales in the season finale, when Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), Zelena (Rebecca Mader), Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) were sucked into a mysterious realm called the Land of Untold Stories. It's a magical "refuge" for various characters whose stories have been lost or forgotten.

The description is a bit cryptic -- and there are exceptions since classic characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also reside in the realm -- but it gives us hope that the show can start creating their own original magical characters with stories we haven't heard before. The show has managed to reimagine many famous fairy tale and Disney properties for their own needs; but being able to create their own heroes and villains vastly opens up the creative avenues the show can take in the future.

Must-watch finales: Scoop on your favorite shows

As mentioned, those new characters will include the infamous split personalities of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A magic turn of events brought both the good doctor and his evil alter ego to Storybrooke, along with the characters from the Land of Untold Stories. Outside of a brief dalliance with Dr. Frankenstein in the show's second season, this is the first time the show has gone in depth with classic literature characters.

And yes, we had the Greek myth Hercules, but it was also a 1997 Disney animated film. Now we're really going the distance.

With new stories, the show isn't forced to interweave its complicated backstory through the canon of familiar tales. Breaking those boundaries can create refreshing new stories and invigorate the show with completely new energy.

Are you excited to see who Storybrooke's new residents are? Once Upon a Time returns this fall on ABC.