The character of Robin Hood is known to rob from the rich and give to the poor, but this time it appears that the Prince of Thieve is the one who was robbed. Actually, it’s more like a scheduling conflict, but some might still consider that a crime.

ABC’s fairytale drama ‘Once Upon A Time’ will be losing their Robin Hood next season as ‘Merlin’ star Tom Ellis is unavailable to reprise his role from the Belle-centric episode ‘Lacey’ from season two. But as the saying goes, the show must go on, so British actor Sean Maguire will step in to play the character in a recurring arc.

Fans may be disappointed to hear this news, but so are the people in charge. Business is business after all and the show’s co-creator Adam Horowitz weighed in with his thoughts on losing Ellis echoing this sentiment:

“Although we love Tom Ellis, unfortunately he wasn’t available. We remain huge fans of his, but because we have an arc planned for the character, we had to move forward.”

As for the man stepping into the role, while he’s mostly done projects in his homeland of England, some may remember Sean Maguire from the short-lived Comedy Central show ‘Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire’. The British-American co-production was a parody of sword and sorcery series and co-starred Matt Lucas and Kevin Hart. While being cut short after only six episodes, it did show that Maguire could handle the genre in ‘Once Upon A Time’, although this time he’ll be playing it straight rather than comedic.

What do you think of the new Robin Hood in ‘Once Upon A Time’? Will you miss Tom Ellis in the role?

‘Once Upon A Time’ returns to ABC for a third season on September 29, 2013

Source: Blastr