Far and away one of the more exciting aspects of 'Once Upon A Time's Comic-Con 2013 panel proved to be the brief teaser revealing that fairy tale icon 'The Little Mermaid's Ariel would surface in the third season. Now, ABC reveals that 'Animal Practice' star JoAnna Garcia Swisher will don the flippered tail, but what twist will 'Once' put upon the character?

News of Ariel's casting comes from TVGuide, who go on to reveal that 'Once Upon A Time' season 3 will provide a "compelling back-story and twist" for their take on the character, without losing the "wide-eyed charm and ambitions" familiar to fans of the animated Disney classic. Ariel will appear in at least two episodes of the third season beginning with the sixth episode, surfacing in a realm outside of Storybrooke.

Naturally, the appearance of Ariel would raise questions of the character's supporting cast, from Sebastian to the witchy tentacled Ursula, to which showrunner Eddy Kitsis teases "Ursula could appear this season, absolutely. But on our show you never know what that might mean." Swisher herself starred in the short-live NBC Justin Kirk comedy 'Animal Practice,' prior to that maintaining roles on 'Reba' and USA's 'Royal Pains.'

What say you, 'Once Upon A Time' fans? Are you excited to see another classic Disney character brought to life? How would you want to see Ariel tie in to the other fairy tales?

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