Zelena (Once Upon a Time)
In December 2013, Rebecca Mader was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West. She made multiple appearances during the second half of season three and was promoted to a series regular for the show's fifth season. The role of the Wicked Witch of the West was written specifically for Rebecca Mader. It was announced that the writers had chosen not to continue with Zelena's storyline and Mader would not be returning for the seventh season of the show. However, Mader later revealed that she would be returning for multiple season seven episodes.
Once Upon a Time (season 5)
Adam Horowitz announced on Twitter that Amy Manson had been cast in the role of the Scottish archer Princess Merida from "Brave". Addressing rumours surrounding the characters origins Kitsis and Horowitz stated, "we are sticking to the canon of the movie "Brave" in terms of who her parents are and where she came from, but post-movie is where our "Once Upon a Time" spin comes into play". On September 8, Meghan Ory was confirmed to be returning for multiple episodes of the season as Little Red Riding Hood / Ruby, while on September 15, Horowitz revealed that Jamie Chung would be returning as Mulan. Both Chung and Ory will first appear in the season's two-parter on November 15, 2015.