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Jamie Chung on Mulan’s bisexuality in “Once Upon a Time” and her new role in “Believe”

While we may be glad for Jamie Chung landing a role in the new Alfonso Cuarón/JJ Abrams series Believe, which focuses on the special abilities of a young girl named Bo (played by Johnny Sequoyah) and the people assigned to protect her, we also may be feeling more than a bit abandoned because, well, it begs the question, “What the hell about Mulan and Aurora?”

When we last saw Mulan (Chung) on ABC’s Once Upon A Time, she was heartbroken to find out that her girl crush, Aurora (played by Sarah Bolger), was going to have a baby with Prince Phillip. Mulan, seeing no real reason to stay by Aurora’s side, announced she was going to join Robin Hood and his team of Merry Men.

And while we all have held out hope that the two women would find their way to come back together in the near future, Bolger is set to appear in the March 9 episode of Once but there is no sign of Mulan in the episode or any upcoming episodes, more than likely because Chung was already busy shooting Believe. At yesterday’s Believe panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Chung was present to talk about her new role on the upcoming NBC series and AfterEllen grabbed some time to find out if we should keep the hope alive that we could someday see more of Mulan.

Asked if she’d welcome the chance to revisit Mulan, she exclaimed, “Oh, are you kidding me? I think it would be really disappointing to leave the audience with this giant question mark. I would go back in a heartbeat. I am committed to [Believe] but I don’t think that door is shut so I’m hoping there is something we can do to answer those questions.”

The actress also said that she was already playing up her character’s attraction to Aurora before she was aware if the writers were going to write towards those apparent feelings. “It was like an on-going inside joke between Sarah Bolger and I. ‘I secretly, like, really care about you.'” Chung explained, adding that she was very aware of what people were saying online. “The audience…there’s this conspiracy online, ‘Mulan loves Aurora!’ And I’m really glad the writer listened because I really think they planned that from the beginning. They’re all about twists and, like, why not, you know? It felt so natural to begin with.”

If she could get back to playing Mulan sooner rather than later, Chung did say she’d like something a little more depth in the role. “I would love more character development…something to sink my teeth into with that character.”

During the panel, we asked Chung about the differences between Mulan and that of Channing in Believe. “I feel the difference in playing someone who is very, very strong and very physical, Channing is a bit similar [to Mulan],” she said, “but I’ve never played a character that had such a natural motherly instinct to protect someone. And I really feel like she’s devoted her life to protect Bo. And she’s ferocious about it. It’s her one objective. And it’s been lovely.”

The actress, who played gay in last year’s Knife Fight, said that there won’t be much time initially on Believe for her character to have a love life. And while she didn’t label the sexuality of her new character, she did say that Channing is clearly devoted to another female—the young Bo. “I don’t really think that there is a love life,” she explained. “Ultimately, she really has sacrificed everything to protect this young girl so I really don’t think that love is in the equation. It’s really her love for Bo.”

Believe is set to premiere on March 10 on NBC.

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