It’s one of those bad news/potentially good news things. Word is out that the folks behind ABC‘s blockbuster Once Upon a Time are considering a spinoff series for Jefferson/The Mad Hatter. The Jefferson-centric episode from Season 1, “Hat Trick”, was easily one of my favorites of the entire series. That’s the potentially good news.

The bad news is that, for that reason, they’re looking for a replacement for Sebastian Stan, who played the character. The very excellent Stan played Bucky in Captain America: The First Avenger, and according to THR, his work in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and in a play on Broadway are keeping him too busy to be able to take on the project right now.

Thus the hunt for someone new as The Hatter. ABC and producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are deciding if they’ll be putting together a presentation or if they’ll try a backdoor pilot, meaning an episode of Once Upon a Time that would be the basis for the spinoff. Either way, should the project go forward, it would join all the other pilots in consideration for ABC‘s fall schedule.

We’ll keep you posted.