Exclusive: Once Upon a Time Casts Rumplestiltskin's Father

The Dark One's daddy issues are about to surface in a very big way.

British actor Stephen Lord has been cast as Rumplestiltskin's father on Once Upon a Time, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

Once Upon a Time: Will Rumplestiltskin save Henry or himself?

On the series, we've learned that the father of a young Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) was branded a coward, so Rumple was desperate to prove he wouldn't follow in dear old dad's footsteps. But when he was drafted to fight in the ogre war, a seer prophesized that he would die in battle, so Rumple intentionally injured himself to sidestep the prophecy. Unfortunately, that also led him to also be branded a coward.

Lord (EastEnders, Shameless)will appear via flashback in at least one episode, slated to air Sunday, Nov. 17. Suffice it to say, we'll get to learn exactly why he wasn't such a great father.

Once Upon a Time bosses dissect Peter Pan's motivations

"We've hinted in the past that his father was a coward and that his father's name was something that haunted him and that his father left him," executive producer Edward Kitsis recently told TVGuide.com. "This is a man who wants to break the cycle of his past. He wants to be a good father, but it's like that quote, 'I can resist everything but temptation,' so that's also his weakness."

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.