It took a while, but it's finally happening: Lost alum Jorge Garcia is heading to Storybrooke.
Well, not exactly. As the Giant in Sunday's episode of ABC's Once Upon a Time, Garcia's introduction into the magical world will remainly strictly in fairy tale world. But as the man formerly known as Hurley teased to The Hollywood Reporter, "The stuff that they told me about the Giant's backstory, it definitely would make the modern-day stuff exciting to play."
"They'd been talking about trying to get me on for a long time," Garcia said of executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, who both worked on Lost. "They'd be cooking up their ideas in the writers' room and when the Giant came up, they pitched it to me and gave me an idea of the story and a hint to the origin of the Giant as to what angle they were looking to go with him. That was where it went."
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Adds Garcia: "We knew something was going to happen where we were going to work together. We were going to find some way to get me on the show."
Garcia, who revealed that he will likely return for another episode, spoke to THR about his experience shooting in green screen, the Giant's "extravagant" wardrobe and the trouble that awaits Emma and the gang atop the beanstalk.
The Hollywood Reporter: Your introduction to the show is coming up. I'm sure you're excited to see how it all turned out?
Jorge Garcia: There's so much that I'm curious about because we shot all green screen, with very limited practical stuff. A lot of it was just based on faith and trust that I was doing alright and looking at the right spots and had the right evaluation. I'm curious to see how it all came together.
THR: There were photos of your Giant floating around and he was dressed in merchant wear. How would you describe him in terms of his wardrobe?
Garcia: Merchant wear, that's cool, I kind of like that. I never thought of that. That's a good word for it, it has that Eastern influence, flowy, robe-y kind of thing with bangles, bobble things hanging off of it. Which sound was a little nervous about but it wasn't too difficult to mic me. There was one piece that was the stickler that made a lot of noise, but the others were pretty well-muted. It definitely was the most extravagant outfit I've ever worn for any job I've had and it was fun to get into. It's one of those things where the costume does the work for you. There's a corset-like belt that I get woven to, I felt like that scene in the beginning of Gone With the Wind. It gave me this change in my posture; there was this certain kind of majesty that being a Giant just kind of has. That made it easier to skip into the role.
THR: How would you compare this version of the Giant to others out there?
Garcia: We know there's the story of Mickey and the Beanstalk, that's kind of the first Giant that we look at. There's a certain slowness to the Mickey and the Beanstalk Giant; he's clumsy. This Giant, not so much. I think he poses a realer threat with his "murderous" nature.
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THR: In the vague descriptions for this episode, the Giant sounds intimidating and dangerous.
Garcia: Man, I did a looping session for this episode and it was almost 100 percent grunts and growls. [Laughs]
THR: Could you describe his introduction to the episode? We know he'll be dealing mainly with Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin).
Garcia: We know they're going up the beanstalk and the Giant is waiting for them up there. Let's just say, he don't take too kindly to intruders. They're going up there to try to get a compass. They have their work cut out for them, for sure.
THR: What else should we expect from the Giant in this episode?
Garcia: You'll see the first impressions of the Giant and a moment where there's a turn, but I can only be general about it.
THR: Anything surprising to you that you weren't expecting?
Garcia: In true Once Upon a Time fashion, they take a story that you feel you're familiar with and skew it in a different direction. This story's no different.
THR: Is there a possibility for the Giant to return in the future?
Garcia: Yeah, it's looking like they'll be calling me back in a month from now or so to do another [episode]. When I went in and they were telling me the Giant's story, there definitely seemed like there was definitely one return engagement. It'd be good to pop in a few times.
THR: How would he fare in modern-day Storybrooke?
Garcia: That is interesting. The stuff that they told me about the Giant's backstory, it definitely would make the modern-day stuff exciting to play. That's not something I can quite get into yet.
THR: So right now, he's strictly in fairy tale land?
Garcia: So far, he's just at the top of the beanstalk.
Once Upon a Time airs 8 p.m. Sundays on ABC.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
