ABC reveals new Scandal final season details
Today, ABC Entertainment confirmed what was first reported last week: Scandal season 7 will be the series’ last. ABC made the official announcement today and revealed a few details of what to expect from the Scandal final season.
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“Deciding how to end a show is easy,” explains series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes,, “Deciding when to finish is quite simple when the end date is years away. But actually going through with it? Actually standing up to say: ‘This is it?’ Not so much. So, next year we are going all out. Leaving nothing on the table. Creating this world in celebration. We are going to handle the end the way we like to handle the important things in our ‘Scandal’ family: all together, white hats on, gladiators running full speed over a cliff.”
“Shonda has decided the series needs to come to a close,” says ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey, “and while this is definitely a bittersweet moment for all of us gladiators, I have no doubt what she has in store for the final season will be as powerful as what’s come before, and we will be sure to honor that every step of the way.”
“ABC Studios is so proud of ‘Scandal,’ and the Shondaland TGIT franchise, which have been so important to our studio’s success,” adds Patrick Moran, president, ABC Studios. “It’s hard to imagine Thursday nights without Olivia Pope and company and the roller-coaster ride of the last six seasons.”
As a staple in the Shonda Rhimes programming block known as “TGIT,” the Washington, D.C. drama follows a political fixer named Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her team of associates who sacrifice their time, and often their morals, to “handle” unimaginable crises affecting the nation’s elite.
Debuting in April 2012, Scandal broke barriers with Kerry Washington starring as the first African American female lead in a drama series in over thirty seven years. Scandal quickly emerged as the number one show in its Thursday time slot across all key Women demographics proving that inclusion in television was long overdue.
One year later, the ABC drama became the first-ever program to build on Grey’s Anatomy. By its third season, Scandal became a social dynamo, generating a massive 7.0 million tweets in a single season and redefining what it meant to be a social-media powerhouse. Scandal ranks as ABC’s #2 most social drama this season with 2.6 million total interactions across Facebook and Twitter. Helping to re-invigorate ABC’s Thursday night, Scandal has won its 9:00pm hour in all 14 weeks since its January return.
Over the course of the past six seasons, Scandal has been awarded an AFI Award, two NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, a WIN Award and many other accolades. For three years in a row, Kerry Washington received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama. Washington also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Olivia Pope. In addition, Joe Morton and Dan Bucatinsky have both received Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
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Scandal also stars Guillermo Diaz as Huck, Darby Stanchfield as Abby Whelan, Katie Lowes as Quinn Perkins, Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald Grant, Jeff Perry as Cyrus Beene, Joshua Malina as David Rosen, Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant, Scott Foley as Jake Ballard, Joe Morton as Rowan Pope, George Newbern as Charlie and Cornelius Smith Jr. as Marcus Walker.
Scandal is produced by ABC Studios with Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Fish and Tom Verica serving as executive producers.