What makes you say he became an amoral bastard from watching his father go mad with power? Isn't it much more likely he was a hungry little boy, on his own, in a strange new world, who learned to survive the only way he could (stealing, conning, etc) and never learned another way when he aged into adulthood?
Just a thought, but since wonderland is a part of all this, what if "HER" is Alice? Of course that would make her from this world and she'd have to be very old if her original "adventure" took place before the book was written. But then the timelines don't make a lot of sense anyway. I mean I got the impression that a not insignificant amount of time passed in the enchanted forest between when Bae left and the curse was cast, show why isn't Bae a lot older than he is? Perhaps time does run at the same speed in all worlds? On the other hand "HER" could be Dorothy. I mean it's just a matter of time until Oz gets in on the action, no?
I'd wondered about that, but I hope not since "HER" does not seem like it will be a nice/good character - just a feeling HER could be another bad guy/girl. And while I fully expect Alice to show up at some point, I think/hope they might wait to tie her into the Hatter's return after whenever Sebastian Stan finishes his current run on Broadway. Then again if Bae turns out to be the White Rabbit as I kind of hope, maybe Alice will arrive sooner rather than later to Storybrooke.
I don't think they'd have blatantly shown us the screen of his phone several times with the name HER if it didn't have some significance. Why not just name the contact REBECCAH if there's nothing to hide. Could be nothing, but I don't think so.
He's also got at least the Captain America sequel to film, so it'll probably be quite some time before he's free. And depending on how that one ends he could do more Marvel movies. EDIT: Then again Emily Van Camp is the lead on Revenge, so I guess doing the movie might not have much effect on his availability for OUAT. EDIT 2: According to TVLine, they are considering and Mad Hatter spin-off, and they are also looking into recasting the part.
Nobody reflected over what Jack said in "Tiny" about who she got the magical mushrooms from? For a moment there I thought they would reveal she actually was Alice... until she spoke her name.
I generally hate recasting, but there are certain situations where it's warranted, and this is one of those situations. The Producers clearly want to use the character of Jefferson more, but Sebastian Stan's busy schedule prevents them from doing so. As to whether a spinoff of OUaT focused on Jefferson would or would not work, we as fans really can't make that call.
Yeah, I was getting more to the idea that Sebastion Stan is probably the major reason the character is so popular. Good luck finding someone to replace him.
Andrew Lee-Potts from SyFy's miniseries 'Alice' would make an excellent replacement for Stan, as both have similar physical characteristics and similar vocal quality. As for Stan's portrayal being the reason for the character's popularity with fans, that may very well be the case, but the producers are likely well aware of that and yet are still willing to consider recasting the role, which says something about their own internal desire to use the character.
The reaction to the idea of recasting the role of the Hatter has been pretty strongly negative as far as I've seen. I really hope that's taken into consideration before any final decisions are made. I'd much rather see Jefferson's storyline put on the back burner until Sebastian Stan is available to be back as recurring, than throw energy away recasting and spinning off with someone else.
I love Stan as the Hatter. Personally I would rather they work around Stan's schedule. He is not averse to doing television. He is just busy. Sometimes recasts work fine. But, with the Hatter I think it is Stan that sells the character. Of course you can never tell if it will be bad in advance, but I don't think it is a great idea sans Stan.
I'm not a big fan of recasting-- more often than not, something essential is lost. I do agree, though, that the guy from Alice would be a good candidate if they did recast.
Hmmm...I haven't seen Alice, but, I can't imagine any way Andrew Lee Potts (Connor from Primeval) could possibly replace Sebastian Stan, Andrew Lee Potts is quite skinny, Sebastian Stan probably weighs at least half much more as Andrew Lee potts.
I'm another one who would rather see them just work around Stan's avaiability rather than recast. The show has been working fine without him, and I don't think it would be that bad if we just got one or two episodes with him every season or so.