David tries to be enthusiastic for her, but thinks Boston is too faraway. Hoping to stop Mr. Gold before his plans escalate, they ask for the dagger from Belle. Emma, trapped on the other side, informs him via walkie-talkie that the woman, Elsa, is searching for her sister, Anna, whose pendant was in the pawnshop. The princess sets the Queen free and Regina proceeds to strangle Snow and stab her with the knife intended for her, however, it has no affect due to the protection spell Rumple has put over Snow with a strand of Regina's hair. David becomes impatient when Hook is reluctant to lie and steal, and even asks him to drop the act. David cannot believe she, too, is also in Storybrooke. Later on, Mary Margaret finds a key under her pillow and leaves her cell. Leroy is adamant they must know if crossing out of town is safe since Emma is dangerous and there's no one to protect them now. Without a proper escape plan, Tinker Bell decides it's not worth the risk, and she goes back to her tree house. At the execution, Regina's final words are that she regrets not being able to cause more pain, more death and above all, not being able to kill Snow White. ("A Land Without Magic", "Pilot"), Afterward, they walk the beach coastline together as she inquiries how he found her. David manages to lock Daniel in one of the horse stables and wants to put him down, but allows Regina to talk to her fiancé. Mary Margaret laments yelling at her daughter over at the apartment, claiming to have failed as a parent along with David, and the two of them regret heavily that Emma was forced to see fear in the eyes of her own family. Due to the valor expressed by David on this quest, Arthur knights him into the Knights of the Round Table, allowing him to sit down on siege perilous. David wishes to destroy the page and think of the consequences later, but Mary Margaret convinces him against taking the easy way out and that they must come clean. As his name suggests, he is the prince of a faraway kingdom, known for his dashing and handsome air.

Afterwards, David and Mary Margaret enter the pawnshop to deliver the grim news about Neal to Belle and Hook.

("The New Neverland"), Snow and Charming return from their honeymoon to find everyone in their castle under some sort of sleeping curse, and the culprit is soon revealed as Maleficent, who's come to make a deal with the two royals along with Ursula and Cruella De Vil: they want to go with them to the Tree of Wisdom, which only answers the questions of the most valiant heroes, so that they can figure out a way to stop Regina's Dark Curse. Emma wants to go with them, but Regina declines out of the belief she is not in the right mind to face Hades, which David reluctantly agrees with, much to his daughter's frustration. As David continues to keep his injury secret, his strength is depleting. He runs across Mary Margaret, who is promoting Emma for sheriff. Later on, from Regina, David learns Henry has stolen her keys to the vault. Following the funeral, David and Henry head off, while Snow stays behind with Emma. In the aftermath, Snow encourages her loved ones to look toward future adventures now that this one has concluded and she reminds them that being happy doesn't come from an ending but from being together.

Unseen to them, Mr. Gold kills Zelena; accidentally triggering magic in her pendant, which activates the time spell. Suspecting Pan has found a way to control his shadow from inside the box, David goes with Emma and Mary Margaret to investigate.
However, in Shrek The Third, he was eager to avenge his mother after her death in Shrek 2, caused by Harold. Snow is devastated to find Charming's body but is soon approached by Regina herself, who assures her that, soon enough, Snow shan't even remember she knew Charming, let alone loved him.

Robert returns home empty-handed as he could not afford it, to which a wizard named Rumplestiltskin offers to pay them handsomely if he gives him one of the twins for a barren king and queen to raise as their heir.

In this film, Charming and Cinderella are celebrating a year's worth of magic with their love stronger than ever. An embittered Emma is tired of her parents' optimism, but they encourage her to have hope about rescuing Henry. ("Child of the Moon"), David is startled as Henry wakes up from his dream, stating that he met someone named Aurora, who says Emma and Mary Margaret are alive, and they need to stop Cora.

Her parents agrees Pongo would be great for Henry, though things may get a bit cramped.

Snow and Charming are appalled, especially once the egg starts to hatch and they see that a baby is inside.

Nonetheless, David is happy she's found a piece of her old self. The next day, the Charmings are investigating the Snow Queen at the sheriff's station after an incident wherein she stalked Emma, coming to the conclusion that she didn't arrive along with the curse, meaning she made her own way to Storybrooke. The Blind Witch reveals that they can actually do that via one of the haunting booths, and she explains how they work in exchange for one of David's breaths, for the breath of the living is worth a lot on the black market down there. They believe if Emma comes with them, she can also have her happy ending that never happened. Wanting Killian's sacrifice to be worth something, Emma and the others opt to go to the Underworld to save him, with the no-longer-dark Swan using her parents' central mantra - that she will always find him.

They go down to the mines where Regina is and tell her of this plan, however, Emma soon realizes that the bean is missing and suspects that Hook stole it, having been skeptical at the idea of helping Regina. On guard, David shields his wife from the witch, who cattily remarks that she isn't there for their baby.
However, he agrees to go with him after Hook expresses a willingness to do whatever it takes to get back to Emma. Number When Mary Margaret comes home, David introduces them and proclaims they will find Anna. Sighting a bush of thorns, he prepares to cut them away, but Hook informs the group the dangers of the poisonous Dreamshade oozing out from the spikes.

―Prince Charming to his father. Species: Seeking cover in an abandoned cabin, sparks fly as they confess their feelings for each other.

The Blind Witch has the perfect solution, but before she tells them, she asks for a breath sample from David, which she wants to sell on the black market. Mary Margaret wants to tell Emma, but David believes that this will only harm her as, if Pan's lying, then she'll have to lose Neal all over again. Under memories created by the curse, Kathryn recalls having a heated argument with her husband, before he left their home to cool off, though he never returned. To make up for it, David teaches Henry how to sword fight with wooden weapons. Though Snow convinces him otherwise, Hyde is still distrustful of them and refuses to let them go.

Later, Charming finds the town at a panic which is only worsened when the seven dwarfs run in explaining that if you leave Storybrooke, you lose all memory of your fairytale self, the town becomes livid. Later, Mary Margaret, David and Leroy pull up outside the bean farm and walk through the invisible barrier only to discover that all of the beans have been destroyed, by Regina, destroying all hopes of returning home. As the Charmings search for the Dark One's cabin, Emma expresses similar sentiments, much to her parents' alarm, but she assures them that she's just worried, knowing that Gold maybe wouldn't hurt a child, but August isn't one anymore. ("Poor Unfortunate Soul"), Hook tells Emma and her parents about Gold's plan to fill her heart with darkness, which leads the Charmings to worry about the security of the goodness they instilled within their daughter many years ago. Abigail tells Charming that if he retrieves some water from a lake with magical (Lake Nostos) properties to free Frederick, she will help him find his true love, Snow. Additionally, she reveals Tamara is dead as well. Rumplestiltskin gleefully acknowledges that Thomas disappeared due to Cinderella's refusal to pay for their original deal, even though Charming consoles her with a promise to find her husband. ("Witch Hunt"), When searching Regina's office for signs of the Wicked Witch, David finds berries tracked in from a certain part of the woods but must leave Emma and Hook to continue the job when he's sent a text by Mary Margaret, who wants him to meet with Zelena, their new midwife. With a locator spell, the two women are led to a mine cave-in. ("Think Lovely Thoughts"), David and Mary Margaret return to the Lost Boys' camp, having presumably retrieved the magic water needed for the prince to survive for a while in Storybrooke on their trek up to Dead Man's Peak, to discover that Pan has taken Henry's heart and the latter is now unconscious and dying. She wants to help find him so that she can talk him out of killing Emma, but, when the savior finally returns from the wish realm, she and Gideon do battle anyway, just as fate had prescribed. They observe an amnesiac and frightened Belle who crossed the town line, a run-over Hook with multiple cracked ribs and a passed out stranger in the crashed car. They agree to help and then take drive with Maleficent to the town line, where they witness Lily fly off in dragon form. The plan falls through after Mr. Gold convinces Emma to join him for a better idea, in which he'll use the aura of a deceased person to get both of them into Hades' lair, where Hook is. They journey to the palace, where Rapunzel reunites with her parents, and Prince Charming admits his worries to Snow White, who reassures him they will face the unknown together. Mr. Gold has Henry deliver a message to Aurora and let her know squid ink is the most effective way to defeat Cora.