Gaston is a character who is featured in the ABC fantasy series, Once Upon a Time. He was engaged to Belle as an arranged marriage, before being turned into a rose by Rumplestiltskin and died as his stem was cut by Belle. Following his death, Gaston was trapped in the Underworld for decades due to unfinished business, before being pushed into the river of lost souls.
Gaston was portrayed by two actors: Sage Brocklebank and Wes Brown, and is based on the character with the same name from Beauty and the Beast.
Background[]
Gaston is a revenge loving man who hates not getting what he wants and vows to take down Rumplestiltskin, the Beast who held Belle captive and was responsible for Gaston's death. Belle has described Gaston as the vainest man in all of the land and he is known to be "quite the hunter of both animals and women".
In the series[]
Gaston was engaged to Belle through an arranged marriage, and as in the film, she did not love him because she found him "shallow." He attempted to reclaim her from Rumplestiltskin regardless but was transformed into a rose and given as a gift to Belle. A nobleman, Gaston was the eldest son of Lord LeGume, a reference to the original surname planned for his Disney counterpart.
Gaston returns in the fifth season episode "Her Handsome Hero", now portrayed by Wes Brown. In this episode, Gaston's backstory is more fleshed out. Lord LeGume has agreed to ally his kingdom with Sir Maurice's if Maurice's daughter Belle were to marry his son Gaston. In the beginning, Gaston is portrayed as nobler and focused than his Disney counterpart, but he is later proven to be just as villainous. After he and Belle discovered a captive Ogre, Gaston tortured the youngling for information, an act Belle considered to be unconscionable. It is hinted that Gaston's aggression might have provoked the Ogres into war. In order to protect the kingdoms, Belle finally agrees reluctantly to marry Gaston. As stated above, he is later killed by Rumplestiltskin when he tried to rescue Belle from the Dark Castle.
After his death, Gaston grew further villainous, as the circumstances of his death caused him to blame Belle for his death. Rather than following Belle's idea of forgiveness and redemption, Gaston now believed that it was wisest to defeat an enemy by being strong and that he should have brought an army before he confronted Rumplestiltskin. After Belle and Rumplestiltskin turn up in the Underworld, Hades offers Gaston the chance to redeem himself by killing the Dark One. The god makes a further deal to Belle, that if either Gaston or Rumplestiltskin push the other one in the River of Lost Souls, then Belle could keep her unborn son. However, when the time came, Belle tried to convince Rumplestiltskin not to harm Gaston, as she was not prepared to protect Gideon in this way. However, when Gaston tried to fire at the Dark One, Belle accidentally knocked her ex-fiancé into the river, damning him for eternity. Unfortunately, Belle darkened her soul just to save Rumplestiltskin, as Hades found a loophole in their deal; the deal was for either Rumplestiltskin or Gaston to push the other one in the river, not Belle.
Trivia[]
- This variant of Gaston was engaged to Belle unlike the animated character, although both variants are known to be womanizers and "hunters" for women.
- Gaston's Enchanted Forest outfit is similar to the one from the 1991 film. He also shoots "Mr. Gold" by shooting an arrow into his back, just like he does with the Beast in the movie.
- Gaston blames Rumplestiltskin for his death, but while he did turn him into a rose, it was actually Belle who killed Gaston as she was the one who cut the flower's stem.is
- Gaston is one of two characters who was portrayed by two actors, the other was Robin Hood, who was portrayed by Tom Ellis in "Lacey", before being replaced by Sean Mcquire afterwards,
- However, most characters had two actors to signify different ages in periods in time, while Gaston and Robin Hood's first actors were unable to reprise their roles when their characters were adults.
- Despite Wes Brown replacing Sage Brocklebank for the role of Gaston, archival footage for the episode "Beauty" still used Brocklebank as Gaston and not Brown.
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