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.
Heart of Gold (Once Upon a Time)
Amy Ratcliffe of "IGN" said of the episode, "The exploration of Robin Hood's origins slowed tonight's Once way down as everything about the trip to fairy tale land seemed like it was about forcing connections and parallels. However, in the modern day, learning Marian is actually Zelena almost made up for it. They shouldn't get in the habit of bringing back blasts from the past, but Zelena has the potential to shake things up so much that her return is worth it. Since she's also searching for the Author though, it would have been better to tie him more into the story considering what happened in the previous episode." Ratcliffe gave the episode a 7.2 rating out of 10.
Hilary Busis of "Entertainment Weekly" notes: "Like it or not, you’ve got to admit that Zelena’s return was the most exciting part of an episode that otherwise read as wheel-spinning."