'Once Upon A Time' Executive Producers Would Love to Have Lady Gaga on Their Show

ABC

NEW YORK - Hollywood's recent focus on fairy tale-themed projects fits in with people's need for stories that provide hope in difficult times, the creators and executive producers of ABC's upcoming Once Upon A Time, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Lost, Tron: Legacy), said here Friday at New York Comic Con.

They also discussed parallels of their new series, which debuts later this month, and hit show Lost, on which they previously worked as writers and co-executive producers, and said they would love Lady Gaga to appear on their new show.

Kitsis said his team tried to get Lady Gaga to make an appearance in Once Upon A Time, but he said he wasn't sure if the request really reached her. "We'd be so happy to have her," he said. He didn't detail what role she could play.

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In Once Upon A Time, fairy tales and the modern world collide, and classic characters get reimagined.

"There is something comforting about these stories," said Kitsis when asked about a recent slew of fairy tale-based Hollywood product, such as Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and others. In these "difficult times," fairy tales "give people hope," he added. Kitsis also pointed out that Snow White and the Seven Dwarves originally came out in 1937 following the Great Depression.

The duo said that they originally pitched the project without much success when they were younger and had fewer credits, but following the success of Lost they got the chance to do it. "When we were doing Lost, this idea was sitting in our heads the whole time," Horowitz recalled.

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Asked about parallels between Once Upon A Time and Lost, Kitsis said similar to Lost, the new show goes back and forth between different times or worlds - in this case between the fairy tale and current worlds - with each episode focusing on one character.

The discussion also mentioned that Once Upon A Time features a clock that is frozen at 8:15 - while Lost featured a mysterious series of numbers that also included 8 and 15.

In another connection between the shows, Lost alumnus Alan Dale, who played Charles Widmore, will appear in episode six as a character's father, the producer duo said.

ABC ordered 13 episodes of the show for now. "We have very big ideas" for the characters and where they could go," Horowitz said, adding the duo was looking to make the show as compelling as possible to maybe earn an extended run.

Kitsis said Lost may have been a hit, but "We have to earn [a longer run]…This is a new thing."

The producers didn't want to compare their show with NBC's Grim, which also has a fairy tale theme. "I haven't seen Grim yet," Kitsis said. "This is our version" or take on bringing fairy tales into today's time.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai