Once Upon a Time season 5 premiered with a bang last night, showing our heroes failing at their mission to bring Emma (Jennifer Morrison) back to the side of good.

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Emma's darkness proved to be too much to overcome in last night's season premiere of Once Upon a Time, when a six-week flash forward showed Emma's darkness to be stronger than ever.

Once Upon a Time co-creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz spoke with reporters after the premiere screening about what lies ahead for Emma.

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"The darkness, whether it's taken from her or she gives in to it completely, it's going to affect her and the ramifications of what happened in this premiere are felt throughout the entire season," Horowitz teased. "So, while a lot of the story in the first half we intend to wrap up by midseason, there's bigger issues that are being introduced...that will carry over through the whole season. Emma's journey is going to encompass the whole season."

Kitsis added that the Storybrooke characters will be grappling with Emma's darkness and what got her to such depths.

"And Emma plays her cards very close to the vest, but that does not prevent her from interacting in very close and direct ways with characters like Hook [Colin O'Donoghue], Regina [Lana Parrilla], and Henry [Jared Gilmore], so while there is this mystery going on about what may or may not have happened, we're going to see the relationships move forward in a new way in the present, which is where we have a very dark Emma," Kitsis noted.

Season 5 will be exploring the origin of the Dark One, with Emma doing battle with the personification of the darkness. Kitsis teased that we will meet the very first Dark One eventually.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Tags: Once Upon A Time television ABC