Olivia Pope has overcome the insurmountable throughout the past five seasons of "Scandal." She's battled a secret government agency, "handled" just about everything, maintained a semi-secret affair with the president of the United States and managed to rarely spill red wine on her pristine white wardrobe and sofa.
All of these accomplishments will pale in comparison to the events of this Thursday's episode, which reportedly features a Donald Trump-inspired character, according to Variety. Gulp.
During a PaleyFest panel for the series in Los Angeles Tuesday night, the cast and crew previewed what's to come this season and how the real life political election is slowly encroaching on the "Scandal" universe.
"There might be parallels coming," said Bellamy Young, who plays Mellie Grant, a familiar combo of former first lady and current junior senator.
"You think the debates you’ve seen in the real world are fun!" star Kerry Washington added, before revealing that the Trump characterization will also appear in next week's episode. However, that doesn't mean we haven't seen the actor bringing the former "Apprentice" host to life before. According to Variety, whoever has the privilege/misfortune of playing the character is already part of the "Scandal" family.
Although the series has been inspired by real life events before -- think the police brutality investigation in the Season 4 episode "Lawn Chair" -- TGIT mastermind Shonda Rhimes admitted that some storylines have strayed too close to reality. After watching the debates from the current election, Rhimes revealed, "We did have some moments where I would run back to the writers room and I would say, ‘Hey there’s some dialogue that we need to cross out because it kind of already happened.'"
However, a different political season has Rhimes most inspired. "I will be honest and say I am more influenced by 'Hamilton' right now than the election," she said. "The election right now, it’s its own thing. You can’t make that stuff up."
No matter how much chaos the Trump-inspired character can create on "Scandal" this season, we have every confidence that Olivia Pope & Associates will respond accordingly. Maybe this is how we'll finally be able to defeat Trump.
Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
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