'Scandal' season 6 spoilers, plot news: How Kerry Washington's pregnancy will affect series
"Scandal" season 6 will only have 16 episodes, as opposed to the usual 22. This is to accommodate lead star Kerry Washington's pregnancy with her second child.
Fans will remember that ABC did the same thing during the third season. When Washington was expecting her first child back then, the third run of "Scandal" only had 18 episodes. The following seasons had the usual 22 episodes.
According to reports, ABC also considered cancelling "Scandal" altogether in consideration of the actress's pregnancy. However, renewal prevailed as the network is not ready to pull the plug on one of its biggest dramas yet.
TV Line, who first reported the "Scandal" season 6 episode order cut, also made mention of ABC's rumored plans to move the show to midseason instead of fall.
This means that instead of its usual September-October premiere, "Scandal" season 6 might begin next year. ABC is yet to make confirmations about this.
In terms of the story and plot, "Scandal" season 6 has a lot in store for fans. The new season is set to put the focus back to Olivia (Washington) and Fitz's (Tony Goldwyn) relationship.
While the current president of the United States has no problem with Mellie (Bellamy Young) having Jake (Scott Foley) as her vice president, he has a problem with how close Jake and Liv might become in the office.
"The real hiccup would be how is he feeling about Liv in that moment and how jealous is he of the proximity it will give Jake to Liv. But the Fitz we leave in the finale of this season is a really open-hearted Fitz," Young told Variety.
The election will be the most exciting part of "Scandal" season 6 especially with Cyrus (Jeff Perry) surprising everyone by being running mate to Frankie (Ricardo Chavira). The tandem certainly has Mellie concerned.
"She's a little hubris about beating Vargas, but paired with Cyrus, all bets are off. It will really be bloodbath if we come back to an election in season 6," Young teased.
