Colin O’Donoghue is finally used to wearing leather pants and eyeliner all the time on his ABC hit Once Upon a Time. The Irish actor plays a rock-and-roll version of Captain Hook on the fairy tale drama, and told Us Weekly that it’s a part he never thought he’d play — with an incredibly interesting wardrobe to boot.
“I was surprised that they cast me, to be honest,” the actor said with a laugh while calling from his home in Ireland to discuss the season 4 finale. “I never expected to be playing Captain Hook. [One would] traditionally think of Captain Hook as being quite significantly older than that.”
Another thing he never would’ve expected? Being totally okay with the costume. “I never thought that I’d get used to wearing leather pants — or eyeliner,” he confessed. “It’s sort of amazing how you get used to it!”
Once Upon a Time, which was just renewed by ABC for a fifth season, finishes with an epic two-hour episode on Sunday, May 10. The season 4 finale is packed with plenty of power shifts — and a little romance, too.
“The lines between the heroes and the villains sort of get blurred a little bit and things kind of get flipped on the head; the heroes are villains and the villains become the heroes,” he revealed. “It’s complicated, especially when it comes to Emma.”
Hook’s role of late has been keeping his girlfriend, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) grounded in reality — which is kind of difficult to deal with because her parents are lying to her and all that’s gone on,” O’Donoghue admitted — and he said that will continue in the finale.
“They’re not really going to make an easy time of it, Hook and Emma,” the actor spilled. “Just when they think they’re going to have time for themselves, something happens. Always something happens in Storybrooke! Hook, he really wants to try and make [the relationship] work so he’s going to do whatever it takes to make that happen!”
The two-hour OUAT finale airs Sunday, May 10 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
