Evil Queen (Serum)

"There was a battle raging inside Regina. And she may have won the fight. But this is a war. And it's just begun."

The Evil Queen is a minor character on Once Upon a Time. When it seemed as though Regina might once again be tempted by her dark impulses, she seized the opportunity to use Dr. Jekyll's serum to expel her worst self from her very being, thereby making it so that the Evil Queen - in all her former regal glory - was physically manifested external to her redeemed self. Regina thought she destroyed her, but she's about to discover that darkness can't be snuffed out so easily...

Season 5
"The Queen is back."

Following the death of her true love, Robin Hood, Regina's friends and family begin to fear that they could soon see the reemergence of the Evil Queen - considering that the death of her first love is what caused the creation of that infamous persona in the first place. Regina maintains that the Evil Queen is never coming back, but makes clear that she's constantly at war with her impulses, and right now an inner battle is raging between her good side and her dark side. The Dragon recognizes this, seeing it as being of vital importance that Regina win said battle, and thus he offers to help her find a way to rescue a handful of her loved ones from the Land of Untold Stories where they have become trapped. While at the wishing fountain, which becomes a portal to greet them all home, Regina makes an extra wish that the Evil Queen be gone forever so that she won't always have to suppress her, and her wish comes true when a man named Dr. Jekyll arrives alongside her friends and family. He split himself from Mr. Hyde, who is the manifestation of his very worst self, using a serum that he developed, and he has enough left over for one more dose. Snow tells this to Regina, who decides to inject herself with the serum, thus making it so the Evil Queen separates from her. Emma slaps a pair of anti-magic shackles on the wicked monarch to keep her at bay and, while the Queen sneers at what Regina has become and makes it clear that she needs her, Regina disagrees. She then rips out her worse half's heart and crushes it, and the Evil Queen crumbles to dust. However, while Regina thinks she's rid herself of her dark impulses forever, the Evil Queen is reborn from the dust in the Dragon's shop, and she rips out his heart after declaring that a war has just begun. Clutching the heart, she gleefully proclaims that the Queen is back.

Season 6
"''When your stories finally play out... I'll just sit back and watch you tear yourselves apart."

At some point the Evil Queen makes her way from New York City into Storybrooke, without anybody noticing her arrival. She visits Zelena's farmhouse, where she prepares two drinks and waits for her sister to turn up. When Zelena finally shows up with her daughter, after deciding to move out of Regina's house because of a fight with her sister, the Evil Queen makes herself known. She pokes fun at Zelena's lifelong desire to have a sister, only for Regina to end up being the wrong one for her. The Wicked Witch questions what the Evil Queen wants, so she pushes one of her drinks towards her, telling her it's time for a sisterly chat.

Alongside Zelena, the Queen takes a little trip to Regina's vault and steals some ingredients, later taking the heart of the Count of Monte Cristo and ordering him to kill Snow and David. She uses the ingredients to cast a protection spell around the town, meaning no one can escape, before heading to Gold's shop and attempting to steal an old good luck charm that belonged to David's father. Gold catches her in the act, wanting something in exchange, and forces the wicked monarch to leave Belle and his unborn son out of whatever it is she has planned. She agrees, but wonders if there isn't something else he wants in return; he resists her flirtations though, and so she goes and confronts Regina after dosing her with a magic-dampening spell. Regina is shocked by the Queen's return, learning of all that she's been doing since she's been in town, and, as the Count is about to kill the Charmings, Regina does exactly what the Queen wants her to do: she kills him, thus reawakening a tiny piece of darkness inside her. The Evil Queen comes to gloat, ecstatic, and makes clear that Regina will be the one to take away everyone's happy endings, and when their own untold stories play out then she'll just sit back and watch as they tear themselves apart. The Queen later presents the charm to David, getting inside his head by suggesting that his father's death wasn't an accident, before heading back to Zelena's farmhouse, happy that Zelena didn't rat her out earlier, and stating that she is the sister she deserves, because they are just like each other. Zelena starts to agree.

Hyde is paid a little visit by the Queen in his cell, and she pampers him with food and decoration in order to get information about his friends from the Land of Untold Stories. With this information, she's able to approach Lady Tremaine and act as her "fairy godmother", by helping her piece together all the parts of her revenge. While Emma attempts to stop all this, alongside Hook and Henry, the Evil Queen approaches the latter in order to make clear that she is just as much his mother as Regina is. She also points out that Emma was never around, while Emma claims that she owned that, firing back that the Queen is just the worst part of Regina. The Queen doesn't see this as true though, for she views herself as the part that's honest about who she is, then explaining that Regina was never strong enough to allow her story to play out whereas she has no such qualms. She then makes clear just how pointless he savior is by taking her "off the chess board", literally teleporting her and her comrades far away so that they can't stop the story currently playing out between Tremaine, Ashley and Clorinda. However, despite the Queen's efforts, Emma is still able to save Cinderella from her wicked stepmother's clutches, and all is well. The Queen is most chagrined by this and returns to Hyde for his help, but he points out how hard it is to help her while chained up in a cell. As such, she magics away his shackles and suggests that the two of them take a walk, then opening up his cell door and strolling on out with him by her side.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the character.