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 4)
The season's first episode, "A Tale of Two Sisters" saw the return of Jason Burkart as Little John, who reprised his role in the sixth episode, and Raphael Alejandro as Roland who reprised the role in the third and sixth episodes, and introduced Pascale Hutton as the Queen of Arendelle, Anna and Elsa's mother, who reappeared in the seventh episode while the second episode, "White Out", introduced Robin Weigert as Bo Peep, and saw the return of Gabrielle Rose as Ruth, Prince Charming's mother. The fourth episode, "The Apprentice", introduced Timothy Webber as the Apprentice who reprised his role in the two-hour episode "Smash the Mirror", and the sixteenth episode, "Best Laid Plans". The fourth episode also saw the return of Brad Dourif as the previous Dark One, Zoso. The fifth episode, "Breaking Glass" saw the return of Abby Ross reprised her role as a teenage Emma in "Breaking Glass", "Shattered Sight", and "Best Laid Plans".