When will Once Upon a Time return for season 7B?

We let you know when Once Upon a Time returns from its wicked winter hiatus. Hint: it’s going to be a long winter, Dearies.

It was anyone’s guess how the seventh season of Once Upon a Time was going to go after news that six of its series regulars were not returning. The first episode of season 7 was pretty good … from the second episode on, however, the story began to fall apart.

Nevertheless, I was proven wrong; just when I thought the story of season 7 was starting to sag, the rug was pulled from under my feet. While its ratings have suffered in the move from Sunday to Friday, this season’s story has all the elements of a classic Once Upon a Time story, and, arguably, is more creative than ever before.

Once Upon a Time just aired its midseason finale, but fans are already anxiously waiting for the new batch of episodes to arrive. So, when will the show be back with new stories? Unfortunately, the show will not be returning from its midseason break until Mar. 2, 2018. Yes, you read that date right. Just when it’s getting good.

We are about to deep dive into a three-month hiatus, which is basically the worst kind of holiday present. January is already too long of a wait for my favorite shows to return, so the torture that we have to go through while waiting for Once Upon a Time to come back on is excruciating. With the show entering a three-month hiatus, you’d think you’d be concerned.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though — Once Upon a Time has made a habit of dividing up its season into two parts, while throwing a long hiatus smack dab in the middle. This has allowed the writers the opportunity to treat each half-season as a “full” season, or a different season with new storylines.

Don’t fret, it’s not all bad news on the Friday night home front! You can catch new episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD at 9:00 p.m.! Agents of SHIELD might not be a fairy tale, per se, but it has created its own kind of magic. Trust me, it’s the next best thing.

In the meantime, most season seven episodes are still available for steaming at either ABC.com or Hulu.