Once Upon a Time Shocker: What Happened to Neal?

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Sunday's Once Upon a Time. Read at your own risk!]

Once Upon a Time's penultimate episode took a shocking turn by seemingly killing off a beloved character.

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During the episode, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) could not shake the feeling that Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green) was behind Regina's (Lana Parrilla) sudden disappearance. With the help of Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle), Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) put herself in a shocking position in order to glean some intel on Regina's location, which ultimately led Emma and Neal (Michael Raymond-James) to the factory where Regina was being held and tortured by Greg Mendel (Ethan Embry).

Unfortunately, Emma and Neal discovered the hard way that Tamara was working with Greg — under the direction of the mysterious "home office." Hmm, wonder if the company was founded by a certain Darling. After knocking out Emma, Tamara shot Neal. But before Tamara could finish him off, Emma tackled her, leading Tamara to open up a portal with one of the few remaining magic beans. In order to save Emma, Neal sacrificed himself, letting go of her grip and falling into the portal. And given his gunshot wound, whichever world he ended up in, he likely didn't survive, according to Emma.

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But is that really the case? It seems like there's far too much story left to uncover about Neal's past and future for him to die now, just moments after he and Emma confessed their true love for each other. (Neal's possible death also came before he could really get a second chance at having a family with Mr. Gold.) Magic does always come at a price, but maybe wherever Neal has landed, magic will be the one thing to save him. Plus: Given the finale's focus on young Neal, perhaps it will also reveal that his older self has somehow survived.

Do you think Neal actually died?

Check out a sneak peek of the Once Upon a Time season finale, which airs next Sunday at 8/7c on ABC.