It's a full moon in Storybrooke and the town's about to turn on one of its own.
In the latest episode of Once Upon a Time, airing 10 p.m. Sunday, Ruby's biggest challenge is about to come true. "Ruby is struck with her biggest fear, which is hurting someone again," Meghan Ory told The Hollywood Reporter. "She's been worrying about it since the curse broke."
It may be the culmination of Ruby's fairy tale alter ego taking over, but the wolf-like tendencies have been there ever since the curse was lifted from the town. "In the last few episodes, we've seen that maybe her wolf senses are coming back," Ory said. "She's a little bit of a stress case."
However, when a gruesome murder takes place in Storybrooke, the townspeople target -- who else -- the wolf herself.
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"It’s not a very good day for Ruby, let’s put it that way," Ory said of the confrontation. "Her greatest fear is that she’s hurt somebody and now people are blaming her for it and she doesn’t really know what to do."
Though many would be quick to point out all the negative the curse had brought to Storybrooke, in Ruby's case, it could be argued that it was a blessing in disguise. "The curse was bad but in some ways it was great for Ruby because she didn’t have to deal with this other part of her that is now potentially coming back," Ory explained of her character's Jekyll and Hyde ways. "Figuring out how to deal with this and the possibility that this is a monthly thing in Storybrooke and what that’s going to mean for her and her friends, that’s definitely her biggest challenge."
In the fairy tale world that was, Ory revealed that Red Riding Hood's story picks up "right after she finds out that she’s the wolf and she’s killed [her lover] Peter. You’re going to see what happens after that and how she’s dealing with it when it first happened." To put it bluntly, Red's not handling her situation the best. "That’s not going very well either, the poor thing," she said.
That leads Red to meet who Ory called a "mysterious, strong, beautiful woman" named Anita (Annabeth Gish), a leader of a group of wolves just like her. "She comes along right when Red really, really, really needs help and Anita is that person for her," the actress said. Their connection is an opportunity that Red grasps and she connects with her new acquaintance rather easily.
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"[It's] the idea that there are people like her that have the same issue she does and they're dealing with it in [a very] specific way," she said. "They're teaching her one way to operate in the world with this disease, if you want to call it that."
In the romance department, fans have entertained the idea of a possible Ruby-Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) pairing -- that is, if the latter can ever get out of fairy tale land.
"I've seen that, it's kind of funny," Ory replied when asked about her thoughts on that potential duo. "I think we're going to see some romantic inklings between Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Hook for sure. We saw that last week and I'm sure that will continue. You never know; there are always love triangles. You can never say never with this show, [but] he's got a few other obstacles to get through before he thinks about Ruby."
Ory understood the reasoning behind fans' desires to see the two characters meet. From her perspective, the two have a lot more in common with each other than perhaps others in the Once Upon a Time universe: "They both lost people they loved and they’re both characters that are burdened."
Once Upon a Time airs 8 p.m. Sundays on ABC.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
