A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics . The stakes in these stories are immense, and the fate of a country is often in the hands of one individual. Political corruption , organized crime , terrorism , and warfare are common themes.
91-614: Scandal is an American political thriller television series starring Kerry Washington . Created by Shonda Rhimes , it aired on ABC from April 5, 2012, until April 19, 2018, for 124 episodes over seven seasons. Kerry Washington's character, Olivia Pope , is partially based on former George H. W. Bush administration press aide Judy Smith , who served as a co-executive producer. The show takes place in Washington, D.C. , and focuses on Olivia Pope's crisis management firm, Olivia Pope & Associates (OPA), and its staff, as well as staff at
182-475: A SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series . The first season introduced Olivia Pope ( Kerry Washington ) and the various members at her firm. In addition, it introduced the president of the United States, Fitzgerald Grant III ( Tony Goldwyn ) and his chief of staff Cyrus Beene ( Jeff Perry ). The season focuses on the lives of the team members, the relationship between Olivia and
273-509: A couple, going public with their relationship, thus leading to Olivia taking on many more of the first lady–established roles in the White House. She continues managing Olivia Pope & Associates, which Marcus Walker ( Cornelius Smith Jr. ) becomes a part of, even using it to spin her image once the world looks down on her due to her new relationship with the President. However, by the midpoint of
364-477: A day, so we had to tell our story in a different way, and that necessitated other people both picking up the slack in beautiful ways". Shonda Rhimes said in an interview that the fifth season would begin only a few days after the events in the fourth-season finale. She stated that the fifth season would see Olivia and Fitz the only people standing in a single piece, as she said "The world had been fairly blown apart for everybody except Olivia and Fitz. Everybody else
455-422: A former agent of a spy agency called B613 and assistant at QPA; Jeff Perry as Cyrus Beene, the former White House chief of staff under Grant and later Vice President of the United States under Mellie Grant; Joshua Malina as David Rosen, the attorney general; Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant, the ex–First Lady, a former senator, and later the president of the United States after Grant; Scott Foley as Jake Ballard,
546-400: A great number of secrets, Fitz learns of her secret abortion, and the season concludes with Mellie and Frankie named as the respective Republican and Democratic nominees, with Jake and Cyrus selected as their respective VPs. On March 3, 2016, ABC renewed Scandal for a sixth season, which premiered on January 26, 2017. The entire season is about the murder of President-elect Frankie Vargas. It
637-460: A marathon of the first two seasons on August 10 and 17, 2013, then in two-hour blocks on Wednesdays before the show's season three premiere on October 3. BET airs new episodes after an eight-day delay. Seasons 6 and 7 Political thriller Political thrillers can be based on facts such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the Watergate Scandal . There is a strong overlap with
728-429: A multiple-episode "top secret arc". On July 30, 2014, it was announced Kelen Coleman would appear in the season four premiere. On August 12, 2014, Mary McCormack and Josh Randall were cast as a couple in the season's second episode. Lost alum Sonya Walger was cast in a recurring role, which was announced on August 18, 2014. On August 22, 2014, Entertainment Weekly announced that Matthew Del Negro would play
819-560: A music video for the single " I Wanna Go ", and took part in a scene referencing his character Scarface from Half Baked . In 2012, Díaz began his main role as Huck in the drama series Scandal . Díaz was one of the many celebrities that acted in Beyoncé and Jay Z 's video for "Run" in 2014. Díaz is gay . In 2011, he told Out magazine that his rough upbringing in New York City, during which he hid his sexuality so as not to become
910-491: A passenger was removed from the flight by a Federal Marshal just prior to take off. Quinn ( Katie Lowes ) starts to hang out with Charlie, who sets her up to kill a security guard who was an eye-witness to the Federal Marshal's removal of the passenger. As a result of Quinn's inadvertent murder, Huck tortures her and she leaves the firm. Meanwhile, Fitz faces problems when Congresswoman Josephine "Josie" Marcus ( Lisa Kudrow )
1001-678: A political thriller in a chronological format. The former ABC and Netflix series Designated Survivor depicts the political power struggle that follows as a result of a terrorist attack that destroys the United States Capitol during the State of the Union , assassinating the President and all but one of his line of succession . 2015's Okkupert (English: Occupied) quickly became Norway's most expensively produced TV series, depicting Russia and
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#17330853010661092-449: A recurring cast member. Production started at the beginning of July, as Rhimes tweeted that the writers were hard at work collaborating ideas and mapping out the fourth season. Scouting for the season began a few days later. The table read for the first episode was on July 24, 2014, and Rhimes revealed the title of the premiere the same day. Filming for the fourth season began on July 28, 2014, and ended on April 28, 2015. Scouting began in
1183-407: A recurring role on the show, which turned out to be the sister of Congresswoman Josephine Marcus, played by Lisa Kudrow. Jack Coleman joined the cast in a recurring role as Daniel Douglas, the husband to Vice President Sally Langston. On November 5, 2013, Khandi Alexander was cast in a recurring role as Olivia's mother for a multiple episode arc. On December 3, 2013, it was announced that the show
1274-533: A recurring role. It was announced that the role of Karen Grant, one of the Grant family's children, would be recast, and on September 5, 2014, Mary Mouser was revealed to be taking over the role. Jasika Nicole returned as Huck's estranged wife in the fourth season, with her return beginning in the fifth episode. Stephen Collins announced on Twitter that he would be returning to Scandal for an episode. However, after news broke about sexual abuse allegations made about
1365-400: A regular cast member for the first time in the twelfth episode of Season 5. TVLine announced on August 6, 2016, that Glee alum Jessalyn Gilsig would replace Joelle Carter as Vanessa Moss, Jake Ballard's wife. TVLine announced on May 15, 2017, that George Newbern , who plays Charlie, was promoted to a main cast member for Season 7, after having appeared in over fifty episodes as
1456-563: A relationship with David Rosen. Katie Lowes acted as Quinn Perkins, and Guillermo Diaz played the character Huck, the troubled tech guy who works for Olivia. Jeff Perry played Cyrus Beene, the chief of staff at the White House . Joshua Malina played David Rosen, the U.S. attorney who develops a relationship with Abby. Bellamy Young played First Lady Melody "Mellie" Grant, while Tony Goldwyn portrayed President Fitzgerald "Fitz" Thomas Grant III. Several casting changes occurred for
1547-436: A relationship with the first lady, Mellie. The campaign faces problems when Sally, stricken with guilt over murdering Daniel ( Jack Coleman ), almost reveals the truth at a debate. Cyrus asks Jake to help protect the secret, which he does by killing James ( Dan Bucatinsky ) to prevent exposing Cyrus's involvement in the cover up. The president's eldest children, Jerry ( Dylan Minnette ) and Karen Grant ( Madeline Carroll ), come to
1638-566: A senator, being her next step in making a run for the presidency, which is the main focal point of the second half of the season. Mellie makes a run for the presidency and takes Olivia on as her campaign manager, having to go against the likes of current vice president Susan Ross ( Artemis Pebdani ), Hollis Doyle ( Gregg Henry ), and Pennsylvania governor Francisco Vargas ( Ricardo Chavira ), the latter of which has his campaign managed by Cyrus. David and Elizabeth push for Susan's presidential run, and David begins to fall for her while also entering into
1729-455: A sexual relationship with Liz, ending in heartbreak for two of the three parties involved. Quinn and Charlie begin seeing each other, and Cyrus also has marital problems with Michael ( Matthew Del Negro ). Jake marries Vanessa Moss ( Joelle Carter ) as per Rowan's arrangement, and also kills her father, also upon Rowan's request. Olivia brutally murders former vice president Nichols when he starts to recover from his paralysis and threatens to expose
1820-463: A target, ultimately made him a better actor. He said: "I went to school in the Bronx. I learned to constantly try to cover up the fact that I was gay. That façade of being somebody I'm really not just to protect myself definitely helped with acting." He was named one of Out Magazine's 100 most influential gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people for 2013. Díaz has said on multiple occasions that he
1911-455: A very different way than you would expect." Olivia will deal with her betrayal to everyone she left behind, when she hears about the fate of Harrison. The betrayals changed everyone permanently, and Olivia will have to deal with it. Shonda Rhimes stated that the fourth season would focus more on the core characters, as opposed to the third season where more characters were introduced. Rhimes explained why: " Kerry Washington couldn't work 14 hours
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#17330853010662002-426: Is Abby's season. That was by design. A lot of what we know about Abby happens this season." Rhimes also confirmed the speculation about the fate of the character Harrison Wright, who she confirmed was killed. She said that all the people at OPA will cope in different ways to Harrison's death, Olivia the hardest. Rhimes said "It will be very devastating for Abby in a surprising way. You'll see how she's coping with it in
2093-466: Is a fan of Madonna . He has been to all of her tours apart from The Virgin Tour and The Who's That Girl Tour . He also has her face tattooed on his right arm. In November 2017, Díaz was nominated to Out magazine's "OUT100" for 2017 in recognition of his work and his visibility. In 2006, he joined the cast of a series of improv-based commercials for Sierra Mist titled Mist Takes . A Spanish version of
2184-424: Is a plan. Tony is not going anywhere; where would he go?!" Other cast members shared their opinions about Grant's next arc without the presidency. Tony Goldwyn , the actor playing Fitz, commented, "He'll be much happier as the post-president than as the president." Jeff Perry , playing Cyrus Beene, said, "I'd love our show to invent a great role for a president after he's out [of] office that would reverberate back to
2275-403: Is arrested for the attempted assassination after being framed by his girlfriend Becky (Susan Pourfar). After David ( Joshua Malina ) helps Huck go free, Huck, Olivia and her team trick Becky to show up at the hospital where she is arrested. Fitz finds out that Verna ( Debra Mooney ) was behind the assassination and kills her. At the funeral, he reveals to Olivia that he does not want a divorce as he
2366-649: Is best known for his role as Diego "Huck" Muñoz in the drama series Scandal . Díaz has made guest appearances on Chappelle's Show , Law & Order , Weeds , ER , Broad City , and Girls . Díaz was born in New Jersey to Cuban parents, and grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan . In 1994, he landed his first speaking role as Spike in Boaz Yakin 's Fresh . From there he began working on Party Girl as Leo, Parker Posey 's roommate. His next role
2457-546: Is devastated after learning about the rigging from Verna. The second arc focuses on finding the mole who is leaking classified information from the White House. Olivia and the team investigate the case after figuring out that the CIA Director's suicide was actually a murder. Olivia gets to know Captain Jake Ballard ( Scott Foley ), who works with the leader of B613, Rowan ( Joe Morton ), who orders Jake to get close to Olivia. At
2548-426: Is going to play into our season, but we're not going to spend our time playing an election." The first season had nine roles receiving star billing, including Kerry Washington as protagonist of the series, Olivia Pope , a former White House director of communications with her own crisis management firm. Columbus Short played the character Harrison Wright, while Darby Stanchfield played Abby Whelan, who begins
2639-484: Is guilty, which inspires Olivia to find out the truth for herself. After forcing Tom to reveal Rowan as his operator, Fitz, Jake, and Olivia make a plan to arrest Rowan. Unfortunately, the plan fails, causing Rowan to shut down B613 and start eliminating B613 agents. Olivia tries to kill Rowan when she confronts him, but he manages to flee. Abby ( Darby Stanchfield ) is now the White House Press Secretary, and
2730-470: Is in the running to win the Democratic Party primary against Senator Samuel Reston ( Tom Amandes ) and become the first female president of the United States. Cyrus tries his best to find dirt on Marcus in order to ruin her campaign, but fails. After Olivia finds out that Fitz shot down the plane which killed her mother, she declines the offer of being the campaign manager for Fitz's re-election and becomes
2821-438: Is one example. A political thriller that happens in the backdrop of Bihar and Indian politics is Fawaz Jaleel's 2021 Nobody Likes an Outsider . Several Alfred Hitchcock films already contain elements of the political thriller, such as The Man Who Knew Too Much , The 39 Steps , and Foreign Correspondent . In 1962, John Frankenheimer made a film adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate . The late 1960s and 1970s saw
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2912-407: Is revealed that his wife, Luna, was behind his murder because she wanted power. The end of season six concludes with Mellie becoming the first female President of the United States. At the end of Fitz's term, he decides to reinstate B613 and become Command, due to Rowan's manipulation of him. Olivia convinces him not to, because she thinks it will destroy him. Then she has Mellie reserve a percentage of
3003-504: Is set in the aftermath of the Korean War and the days of McCarthyism . In Frederick Forsyth 's The Day of the Jackal , an assault on Charles de Gaulle has to be prevented. Other authors of political thrillers include Jeffrey Archer and Daniel Silva . In Bengali literature , Samaresh Majumdar 's Aat Kuthuri Noy Dorja (বাংলা: আট কুঠুরি নয় দরজা, meaning: "Eight Rooms and Nine Doors")
3094-470: Is struggling with gaining the respect of Cyrus and Fitz, because they choose to demean her by calling her "Red" instead of Abby. Later in the season, Abby finds herself stressed even more by the presence of her abusive ex-husband, who has been nominated for Virginia state senator, and she enlists Leo Bergen ( Paul Adelstein ) to help ruin his campaign. Quinn has stayed in contact with both Abby and Huck, in addition to trying to find Olivia. Mellie struggles with
3185-515: Is working with David, who steals the Cytron card, but frames Billy and gives Cyrus the card in exchange for being reinstated as US Attorney. At the end, Olivia's name is leaked to the press as being Fitz's mistress, and it is revealed that Rowan is Olivia's father. After Olivia's name is leaked to the press as Fitz's mistress, Olivia Pope & Associates faces financial troubles when all their clients fire them. The firm accepts "new" clients in order to pay
3276-628: The European Union cooperating to get Norway to restore its gas and oil production. The series had a budget of over 90 million Norwegian Krona (3.8 Million GBP). It was first broadcast on TV2 in Norway, and then broadcast on Sky Arts in the United Kingdom. It was later added to Netflix worldwide. The 2017 ABS-CBN 's Revenge Crime-Political Suspense Epic Wildflower tells of a woman named Ivy Aguas/Lily Cruz ( Maja Salvador ) plots her vengeance for
3367-643: The September 11 attacks or terrorism in general. The 1990 British drama serial House of Cards is a political thriller set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a Chief Whip Francis Urquhart attempting to rise to Prime Minister. The subsequent Netflix adaptation starring Kevin Spacey is set in the United States and details Congressman Francis Underwood 's machinations to become elected president. Shonda Rhimes ' television series Scandal contains many elements of
3458-516: The White House and surrounding political scene. In addition to Kerry Washington, the show features Tony Goldwyn as Fitzgerald Grant III, President of the United States —later a former president—and Olivia's main love interest; Darby Stanchfield as Abby Whelan, an assistant at OPA (later renamed Quinn Perkins & Associates or QPA), and also the former White House press secretary and chief of staff; Katie Lowes as Quinn Perkins, former assistant at OPA and later head of QPA; Guillermo Diaz as Huck,
3549-486: The conspiracy thriller . Some early examples, can be found in the historical novels of Alexandre Dumas (particularly his Three Musketeers novels, which often involve political conspiracies), as well as such literary works as Joseph Conrad 's novel The Secret Agent . Gilles (1936) contains an early example of the political thriller: in one of the book's subplots the protagonist Gilles Gambier finds himself embroiled in an left-wing assassination plot against
3640-399: The "back nine" order. Scandal was renewed for a third season on May 10, 2013. Along with other ABC dramas, this season was split into two runs of uninterrupted episodes, the first consisting of ten episodes. The second run, initially set to consist of 12 uninterrupted episodes, began on February 27, 2014. On December 7, 2013, ABC Studios, announced that due to Kerry Washington 's pregnancy,
3731-1122: The ABC feed. The series airs in Australia on the Seven Network with reruns airing on SoHo , Canal Sony in Latin America , ZFB-TV in Bermuda , Miami 's WPLG in the Bahamas (via cable from the United States mainland), and on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong . The first two seasons originally aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom . In 2014 the show was picked up by rival broadcaster Sky Living who continued airing it from season three onwards. In New Zealand it first aired on TV One but now airs on TV2 . It aired in South Africa on multiple television channels; first run episodes were aired on DStv premium channel M-net
Scandal (TV series) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-451: The CIA, but it backfires. They later came up with a plan to frame Rowan for embezzlement of the funds at the museum he is working at, having him imprisoned. Later, Fitz finds out the truth about what Mellie and Cyrus had done; he orders them to leave the White House. Elizabeth then takes Cyrus' place as the chief of staff. In the last scene, he reunites with Olivia. Olivia and Fitz now embrace being
3913-466: The Pentagon's funds in a blind emergency trust and uses that money to reinstate B613 herself. Olivia becomes Command at the end of the season and considers herself the most powerful person in the world. On February 10, 2017, ABC renewed Scandal for a seventh season; on May 10, 2017, it was announced that this season would be the show's last. On January 3, 2018, a crossover with How to Get Away with Murder
4004-525: The President (her former employer), and the mystery surrounding Amanda Tanner's ( Liza Weil ) involvement with the White House , among other cases the team had solved. An assassination attempt is made on Fitz's life, which almost kills him. As a result, Sally Langston ( Kate Burton ) takes over as president, much to Cyrus' dismay. After surviving, Fitz decides to get a divorce, which Mellie ( Bellamy Young ) tries to avoid by somehow convincing her OB/GYN to induce her labor four weeks early. Huck ( Guillermo Díaz )
4095-761: The Prime Minister. The plot falls apart due to the ineptness of the conspirators, and Gilles ends with the protaganist leaving to fight in the Spanish Civil War . The actual political thriller came to life in the early days of the Cold War . Graham Greene 's The Quiet American (1955) tells about the American involvement in Vietnam during the First Indochina War . Richard Condon 's The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
4186-617: The UK, achieving the BBC 's highest viewing figures since 2008. The series depicts PS David Budd, a British Army war veteran suffering from PTSD . He is working for the Metropolitan Police within their Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch . He is assigned to protect the ambitious Home Secretary , Julia Montague, whose politics stand for everything he despises. It was released on Netflix worldwide on 24 October 2018. A playwright who has embraced
4277-529: The West Coast, Díaz traveled back east to play a stoner named Eric in Brian Sloan's film I Think I Do . A similar role followed as Scarface in the film Half Baked . One of his co-stars was Dave Chappelle , who later cast him in several episodes of Chappelle's Show . In 1999, he landed a non-verbal role in 200 Cigarettes , and went on to act in both Ethan Hawke 's directorial debut Chelsea Walls and
4368-412: The White House for an interview, but Olivia soon figures out that they aren't pleased with their parents. After the passing of a close friend, Olivia returns to D.C. and is shocked by the state of OPA. The first half of the season focuses on Jake's arrest for the death of Jerry Grant after Rowan forces Tom ( Brian Letscher ) to name Jake as the operator. Rowan continues to try to make everyone believe Jake
4459-735: The Year by the American Film Institute , received the Peabody Award for Excellence in Television and was honored as Outstanding Drama Series at the Image Awards. Washington has won the Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series and has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series , a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series , and
4550-628: The actor, his footage was cut from the episode per ABC's request. Two alumni from the Shondaland-produced television show Private Practice appeared in the fourth season. It was announced on September 16, 2014, that Brian Benben had landed a guest-starring role. In addition, Paul Adelstein returned as Leo Bergen in an episode which aired in November. It was reported on October 21, 2014, that Michael Trucco had been cast as Charles Putney, Abby's abusive ex-husband. Information about his character
4641-456: The beginning of July. Kerry Washington announced the first table read would happen July 14, 2015. The title of the season premiere, "Heavy is the Head" was revealed on August 8, 2015, by its director Tom Verica on Twitter. Filming for the season began on July 16, 2015. Several actors working on Shondaland -produced shows directed an episode for the fifth season. Tony Goldwyn from Scandal directed
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#17330853010664732-408: The bills. Rowan becomes more involved with Olivia's life, which begins to affect her, and leads Huck and Jake to investigate B613. They discover during a military action code named "Operation Remington", Fitz shot down a civilian aircraft over Iceland and Olivia's mother was one of over 300 casualties. Determined to find out the truth about Operation Remington, the firm investigates Rowan and learns that
4823-416: The black hat life of Command of B613, and her dip towards the latter strains her relationships with her friends and family, particularly after she orchestrates the murder of Bashranian president Rashad and his niece and nearly allows Quinn to be killed. Cyrus, now vice-president after Olivia and Jake forced Luna Vargas to commit suicide at the previous season's end, finds himself on the cusp of finally achieving
4914-480: The crew was scouting for filming locations. The table read for the premiere was on July 26, 2016, with filming starting soon after. On February 10, 2017, ABC announced that the series had been renewed for a seventh season. On May 10, 2017, ABC announced that the seventh season would be the show's final season. In an interview with showrunner Shonda Rhimes, she revealed that the fourth season would highlight Darby Stanchfield 's character, Abby Whelan. She said "Season 4
5005-591: The day after their ABC run, along with reruns on rival satellite channel StarSat and SABC3 as of May 2014. The show has since moved to the free-to-air channel E.tv , with the 5th season commencing in April 2020. The series is re-titled in South Africa as The Fixer to avert confusion with the domestic soap opera entitled Scandal! . In Jamaica , Scandal airs on CVM TV. On July 15, 2013, BET and ABC announced an early syndication agreement, which saw BET carrying
5096-401: The death of her son, Jerry. She finally comes to terms with her loss after finding out that Jerry was murdered due to being deliberately exposed to bacterial meningitis rather than contracting the disease naturally, and she chooses to form an alliance with Elizabeth North ( Portia de Rossi ). Later, after having an affair with him, Mellie discovers the true nature of Nichols, who threatens to tell
5187-450: The director of the NSA and Olivia's secondary love interest; Cornelius Smith Jr. as Marcus Walker, a civil rights activist, who used to be an OPA assistant and White House Press Secretary; Joe Morton as Eli "Rowan" Pope, Olivia's father and the former head of B613; and George Newbern as Charlie, a former B613 agent who later becomes a member of QPA. The show was named a Television Program of
5278-511: The emergence of political thrillers that actively reflected the backdrop of the Vietnam and Watergate Scandal eras in US military and political history and presented a largely unvarnished view of the machinations and cynicism of modern-day political leadership, including assertions around the convergence of politicians and the secret services colluding to create a so-called deep state focused on neutralizing
5369-470: The end of the season, Mellie gives Fitz an ultimatum: either he becomes loyal to her, or she goes on national television and reveals Fitz's affair with Olivia. Fitz chooses Olivia, which makes Mellie reveal the affair. Fitz announces his re-election campaign. As Olivia and the team continue to investigate who the mole is, Huck manages to capture Charlie ( George Newbern ), who reveals the mole's identity: Billy Chambers ( Matt Letscher ). They figure out that Billy
5460-456: The genre is Gary Mitchell , who in the 2000s became "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright". Guillermo D%C3%ADaz (actor) Guillermo Díaz (born March 22, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for films Half Baked (1998), 200 Cigarettes (1999) and Stonewall (1995). He
5551-448: The loss of her family and is willing to determine to dethrone the exploitative and oppressive Ardiente Political Dynasty. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan is an American action political thriller streaming television series, based on characters from the fictional "Ryanverse" created by Tom Clancy, that premiered on August 31, 2018, on Amazon Prime Video . In 2018, British political thriller Bodyguard quickly achieved popularity throughout
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#17330853010665642-469: The manager for Josephine Marcus'. After an incident with Marcus' sister, Josephine backs out of her campaign. The second part of the season focuses more on the re-election campaign as Olivia has taken over as the campaign manager. At the same time, Sally announces that she is running for president by being an Independent. As a result, Fitz chooses the governor of California, Andrew Nichols ( Jon Tenney ), as his new vice presidential running-mate. Nichols develops
5733-455: The movie Just One Time , where as secondary characters one critic thought that he and Jennifer Esposito provided what little "comic spark" existed in the film. Díaz played Guillermo García Gómez, a drug dealer/trafficker, in seasons 2-6 of the series Weeds . In 2009, he starred on the series Mercy , where his portrayal of the gay nurse Angel received negative criticism in online forums for being too flamboyant. In 2010, he appeared in
5824-434: The night as "Thank God It's Thursday" (or "TGIT"). This echoes ABC's former TGIF branding of its Friday night family sitcoms and even NBC 's Must See TV promotion of formidable Thursday night television hits in the 1990s. The remaining fall schedule for ABC was announced on October 30, 2014, where it was announced that Scandal would air nine episodes in the fall with the fall finale to air on November 20, 2014, just like
5915-627: The overall episode order would be trimmed from 22 to 18, which led the season finale to air four weeks earlier on April 17, 2014. The show was renewed for a fourth season by ABC on May 9, 2014. On May 13, 2014, ABC announced their new schedule, as well as a new time slot for Scandal . The show remained on Thursday night, but it was moved to 9:00 PM E.T. to make room for ShondaLand Production Company's new TV series, How to Get Away with Murder . In August 2014, ABC programmed its entire Thursday primetime lineup with ShondaLand dramas Grey's Anatomy , Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder , then branded
6006-424: The past seven seasons to the public and land them all in prison or worse. In early 2011, it was announced that Shonda Rhimes was developing a new pilot. In February, Kerry Washington was cast in a leading role. Actresses Gabrielle Union and Taraji P. Henson auditioned for this role alongside Washington before she was officially chosen. Henry Ian Cusick also landed a role in the series. On February 28, 2011, it
6097-510: The position he has desired for so long. Fitz adjusts to his post-presidency life and his desire to establish his legacy. With Olivia having departed for the White House, Olivia Pope & Associates, now renamed Quinn Perkins & Associates (QPA) goes through a reboot, as Quinn and the remaining gladiators must now rebuild the firm's reputation from the bottom up. Soon, however, everyone is caught up in one last scandal stirred up by Cyrus Beene that threatens to expose all of their various crimes over
6188-539: The press about their affair. In the season finale, members of a grand jury gathered by David for the B613 case were killed after the initial hearing. OPA and David begin investigating the scene, and realized that Rowan was responsible. He also blackmailed Mellie into giving the names of the members, causing her to feel responsible. Cyrus later finds out the truth, but decides not to tell Fitz. After seeking advice from Maya ( Khandi Alexander ), Olivia and Jake decides to reveal B613 to
6279-476: The real world." Executive producer Betsy Beers voiced her excitement about the character doing "anything he wanted". Other cast members compared Fitz's next move with former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton . In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Rhimes talked about the presidential election and its factor into the sixth season. She said that it would in both ways, adding, "We are basically going to start our season on election night. Yes, it
6370-407: The rest of ABC's primetime lineup "TGIT" Grey's Anatomy and How To Get Away with Murder . The remaining 13 episodes aired after the winter break, beginning on January 29, 2015, and ending with the season finale on May 14, 2015. Scandal was renewed for a fifth season on May 7, 2015, by ABC. The series continued to air on Thursdays in the timeslot 9:00 p.m. E.T. like the previous season, as it
6461-421: The same Thursday timeslot, while Private Practice remained in the new Tuesday evening timeslot to finish its final season. Rhimes had stated at the time that the second season would likely be thirteen episodes or less, but the renewal of the series after the fall meant that the second season would have two arcs through the season; the first covering the main 13-episode order, with the second arc taking place during
6552-542: The season she feels too suffocated in this new life, and so she leaves Fitz, the White House, and secretly has an abortion. Olivia returns to her old life, dealing with the aftermath of her and Fitz's break up, and Rowan gets out of jail and reclaims Jake as his lapdog, while Fitz starts sleeping around and is put in his place by Abby. Meanwhile, Cyrus and Mellie are forced to move on with their lives now that Fitz has kicked them out, Cyrus struggling to figure out what he wishes to do next, and Mellie running for and being elected as
6643-471: The second and 17th episode, making it the fourth and fifth episode he has directed on the show. Chandra Wilson who plays Dr. Miranda Bailey on Grey's Anatomy directed her first Scandal episode, which was the sixth episode "Get Out of Jail, Free". Scott Foley from Scandal also directed his first Scandal episode, the 16th named "The Miseducation of Susan Ross". Foley and executive producer Tom Verica announced Foley's debut as director on Twitter. For
6734-404: The second season. Henry Ian Cusick exited the show and did not return as his character Stephen Finch for the second season as the actor and showrunner Shonda Rhimes came to the mutual decision for him not to come back for the second year. Both Bellamy Young , as First Lady of the United States, and Joshua Malina , as David Rosen, were bumped up to series regulars. On June 14, 2013, Scott Foley
6825-460: The seventh season, both Kerry Washington and Darby Stanchfield were set to direct their first Scandal episodes, with Stanchfield having previously directed all episodes of the web series. Chad Fischer was the composer for the show for its entire run. For his work he won the BMI TV Music Award six times from 2013 to 2018. Two soundtrack albums for Scandal were released. The first one
6916-558: The thriller film Exquisite Corpse . After having portrayed several Mexican gangsters ( cholos ), Díaz was cast in 2010 as a Latino gangster named Poh Boy in Cop Out . When asked about being typecast, he said: "I [used to worry], but not really anymore. Now I'm just grateful that I'm working. I try to make everything different." In 2010, Díaz did a photoshoot for Pinups Magazine . The photoshoot featured full frontal nudity from Díaz. In 2011, Díaz appeared alongside Britney Spears in
7007-783: The will of the people and actively taking out dissension. Films such as All the President's Men (based on the Watergate Scandal), The Parallax View , whose opening scene actively draws on the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy , The Conversation and Three Days of The Condor , took political and conspiracy thrillers to new heights of paranoia, narrative complexity and realism. Other examples of political thrillers are Seven Days in May , Z , V for Vendetta , Romero , JFK , City Hall , Blow Out , Air Force One , Snowden and The Post . Several post-9/11 political thriller films refer to
7098-605: Was 2013 Songs from Scandal: Music for Gladiators featuring songs from the first two seasons of the show. The second one titled Scandal: Original Television Series Soundtrack was released in 2018 and consisted entirely of Chad Fischer's music from the show. In the United States Scandal aired on ABC on Thursday nights at 9pm/8pm CT. The program aired at the same time in Canada through the City television system with simsubbing of
7189-741: Was a drag queen (La Miranda) in Nigel Finch 's Stonewall . In 1996, Díaz worked in Jim McKay 's Girls Town as Dylan, after which he appeared in I'm Not Rappaport . Díaz played Paco de la Vega al Camino Cordoba Jose Cuervo Sanchez Rodriguez Jr., a high school gang member in High School High . He later appeared in Freeway as Flaco, another gang member. While in Los Angeles, he did guest spots on ER and Party of Five . After finishing work on
7280-399: Was announced on February 4, 2016, that Ricardo Chavira would join the show in a recurring role, and would first appear in the eleventh episode. Annabeth Gish was announced on February 8, 2016, to have been cast in a recurring role. The Hollywood Reporter announced on February 18, 2016, that Joe Morton who plays Rowan "Eli" Pope had been promoted to a series regular, and was credited as
7371-491: Was announced that Tony Goldwyn landed the role as the president. In May 2011, ABC picked up the pilot as a mid-season replacement . During the Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour, it was announced that the show would premiere April 5, 2012, after Grey's Anatomy , relocating Private Practice to Tuesday nights. The program was renewed for a second season on May 11, 2012, in
7462-424: Was announced, which aired on March 1, 2018, with Viola Davis and Aja Naomi King guest starring. The final season follows the first year of Mellie's presidency and how she adjusts to being the leader of the free world after everything she's been through previously. Olivia finds herself struggling to balance both sides of being the most powerful person in the world: the white hat life as Mellie's chief of staff, and
7553-461: Was casting for a new role as a "handsome, charismatic fella" named Andrew, who would be a love interest for Bellamy Young's character, Mellie. A few days later, on December 6, 2013, actor Jon Tenney was announced to have landed the role of Andrew. On January 28, 2014, it was announced that Scandal was casting the guest-starring roles of Jerry Grant and Karen Grant, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young's characters' children. A week later, on February 6, 2014, it
7644-462: Was in a fairly blown apart place ... We pick up right there in that environment and we see what happens next." Rhimes continued talking about Cyrus and Mellie and their situation of not being in the White House anymore. Rhimes also confirmed that "the reconstitution" of Team OPA would happen in the fifth season, as Rhimes revealed in an interview with TVLine , as she explained that the Gladiator conceit
7735-499: Was moved to the timeslot to make room for Shondaland Production Company's new TV series, How to Get Away with Murder . Production began on May 21, 2015, when Rhimes announced on Twitter that the writers were in full swing mapping the fifth season. The series was renewed for a sixth season on March 3, 2016, by ABC. Production was scheduled to begin in July, confirmed by executive-producer Tom Verica . After Kerry Washington announced that she
7826-457: Was pregnant again, TVLine reported that ABC considered moving the show's premiere to midseason. In addition, the episode order for the sixth season was reduced from 22 to 16 episodes. During ABC's annual upfront presentation in May, it was announced that Scandal would premiere during midseason, following a fall run of the new series Notorious . Production began on July 13, 2016, with director and executive producer Tom Verica announcing that
7917-447: Was promoted to regular as of the third season. Casting for Lisa Kudrow was announced on August 28, and was revealed to be playing Congresswoman Josephine Marcus for multiple episodes. Private Practice alum Paul Adelstein was announced to join the cast as Leo Bergen, however at the time of the announcement, details on who he would play were kept under wraps. On September 23, 2013, it was announced that Sally Pressman would be playing
8008-552: Was reported that the guest-starring roles of Jerry and Karen had been landed by Dylan Minnette and Madeline Carroll . The duo appeared in the fifteenth episode in addition to the season finale. On April 25, 2014, it was announced that Columbus Short would not return for the fourth season for personal reasons. In an interview with the show's creator Shonda Rhimes, she revealed that Short's character Harrison Wright would be killed off. Television host Ellen DeGeneres revealed on Twitter that her wife, Portia de Rossi , had been cast in
8099-451: Was sidelined a bit in the fourth season to instead "healing" Olivia. She noted that "a lot of times it was just Huck and Quinn gladiating by themselves. And that wasn't the same dynamic." When talking about the presidential campaign storyline in the show, showrunner Shonda Rhimes talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the character Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III not being president anymore. She said, "I can't tell you any of that — but there
8190-410: Was that he is the youngest son of former Virginia Gov. James Putney and the ex-husband of Abby Whelan after he physically assaulted her in a drunken rage. He appeared in at least one episode of the fourth season. On November 4, 2014, it was announced that Khandi Alexander was going to return as Maya Lewis in the winter finale. Alexander's role was initially meant for only one episode as a guest star, but
8281-452: Was upgraded to recurring on November 14, 2014. Jason Butler Harner was cast for the show in a recurring role, and first appeared in the winter premiere, playing Ian Woods. On February 20, 2015, it was reported that comedian Lena Dunham had been cast in an unknown guest role, and would appear in the sixteenth episode. She ultimately portrayed Susanne Thomas, a young woman who writes a scandalous memoir about some of D.C.'s top politicians. It
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