The seventh and final season of the American television drama series ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

'' was ordered on February 10, 2017 by ABC. It was later announced that the seventh season would be the final season for ''Scandal''. The season began airing on October 5, 2017, and consisted of 18 episodes, adding the total episode count of the show to 124 episodes. Cast member

George Newbern George Young Newbern (born December 30, 1964) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Charlie in the ABC show ''Scandal'' and Bryan MacKenzie in ''Father of the Bride'' (1991) and its sequels ''Father of the Bride Part II'' and '' Fath ...

was upgraded to a series regular after being a recurring cast member for the past six seasons. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with ShondaLand Production Company; the

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

being

Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', it ...

. The season focuses on

Olivia Pope Olivia Carolyn Pope is a fictional character created by Shonda Rhimes for the political drama television series ''Scandal''. This character also played a small role in the series ''How to Get Away with Murder'' on its 4th season produced by Shon ...

and her new position as

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Mellie Grant and the Command of B613. It also depicts

Quinn Perkins Quinn Perkins, formerly Lindsay Dwyer, is a fictional character portrayed by Katie Lowes and created by Shonda Rhimes for the political drama television series ''Scandal''. At the beginning of the series, she is recruited to work for Olivia Po ...

as the boss of her crisis management firm Quinn Perkins & Associates, and its team, as well as staff at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in Washington, D.C., in their efforts to deal with and contain political scandals. Season seven had have twelve series regulars, all returning from the previous season, out of which six are part of the original cast of eight regulars from

the first season ''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...

. The season aired on Thursday nights at 9:00 pm until episode 15, where it aired in its original timeslot, Thursday 10:00 pm.

Cast and characters

Main

Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...

Scott Foley Scott Kellerman Foley (born July 15, 1972) is an American actor and director. Foley is known for roles in television shows such as ''The Unit'', '' Scrubs'', '' Felicity'', and ''Scandal'', and in films such as '' Scream 3''. He has als ...

Jake Ballard Jacob Owen Ballard (born December 2, 1987) is a former American football, football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at Ohi ...

* Darby Stanchfield as

Abby Whelan Abigail Whelan is a fictional character portrayed by Darby Stanchfield, created by Shonda Rhimes for the political drama television series ''Scandal''. Whelan is Jewish, worked in the Washington, D.C.-based crisis management-firm, Pope & Associ ...

Katie Lowes Katie Quinn Lowes (born September 22, 1982) is an American actress and theater director. She is best known for her role as Quinn Perkins in the ABC political drama series ''Scandal'' (2012–2018) and her portrayal of Rachel DeLoache Williams in ...

Guillermo Diaz Guillermo Diaz may refer to: * Guillermo Díaz (footballer, born 1926), Chilean footballer * Guillermo Díaz (footballer, born 1930) (1930–1997), Chilean footballer * Guillermo Díaz (wrestler) (born 1964), Mexican Olympic wrestler *Guillermo Dí ...

as Diego "Huck" Muñoz * Jeff Perry as

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Cyrus Beene ''Scandal'' is an American television political drama series created by Shonda Rhimes, broadcast by ABC. The show features an ensemble cast of regular characters, with eight main characters in its first season. Since the first season, two ch ...

Joshua Malina Joshua Charles Malina (born January 17, 1966) is an American film and stage actor known for playing Will Bailey on the NBC drama ''The West Wing'', Jeremy Goodwin on '' Sports Night'', US Attorney General David Rosen on ''Scandal'', and Caltech ...

as David Rosen * Bellamy Young as

Mellie Grant *

Joe Morton Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Oth ...

as Elijah "Eli"/"Rowan" Pope *

Charlie Charlie may refer to: Characters * "Charlie," the head of the Townsend Agency', from the ''Charlie's Angels'' franchise * Charlie, a character on signs for the CharlieCard, a smart card issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority * ...

* Cornelius Smith Jr. as Marcus Walker *

Tony Goldwyn Anthony Howard Goldwyn (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986), and had his breakthr ...

Fitzgerald "Fitz" Thomas Grant III

Recurring

Jay Hernandez Javier Manuel Hernandez Jr. (born February 20, 1978), known professionally as Jay Hernandez, is an American actor and fashion model. After making his television debut in NBC's '' Hang Time'', Hernandez made his film debut opposite Kirsten Dunst ...

as Curtis Pryce *

Faran Tahir Faran Haroon Tahir (born February 16, 1963) is a Pakistani-American actor. Tahir was born in Los Angeles to an artistic family. His parents were actor Naeem Tahir and radio host Yasmeen Tahir and his grandparents were writers Imtiaz Ali Taj and ...

as President Rashad *

Shaun Toub Shaun Toub ( fa, شان توب ; ; born February 15, 1958) is an Iranian-born American actor. He has played the character Yinsen in ''Iron Man'' (2008) and ''Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' (titled onscreen as ''Iron Man Three'') is a 2013 Amer ...

as Ambassador Marashi *

Dean Norris Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series '' Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town councilm ...

as Fenton Glackland * Whitney Hice as Hannah * Michael O'Neill as Lonnie Mencken

Guest stars

* Bess Armstrong as Senator Diane Greenwald * Caroline Day as Lucy Riccio *

Medalion Rahimi Medalion Rahimi (born July 15, 1992) is an American actress of Iranian descent. She is known for playing Princess Isabella on the 2017 ABC Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, pro ...

as Yasmeen *

Viola Davis Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crow ...

as Annalise Keating *

Aja Naomi King Aja Naomi King (; born January 11, 1985) is an American actress. She played Michaela Pratt in ''How to Get Away with Murder''. She began her career in guest-starring roles on television, and starred as Cassandra Kopelson in The CW medical comedy ...

Michaela Pratt ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American drama television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Viola Davis stars as Annalise Keating, a la ...

* Tom Irwin as Justice Spivey *

Khandi Alexander Harriet Rene "Khandi" Alexander (born September 4, 1957) is an American dancer, choreographer, and actress. She began her career as a dancer in the 1980s and was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tours from 1988 to 1992. During the 199 ...

as Maya Lewis *

Jessalyn Gilsig Jessalyn Sarah Gilsig (born November 30, 1971) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Lauren Davis in ''Boston Public'', Gina Russo in ''Nip/Tuck'', Terri Schuester in ''Glee'', and as Siggy Haraldson in ''Vikings''. Early life ...

as Vanessa Ballard * Kate Burton as Sally Langston *

Gregg Henry Gregg Lee Henry (born May 6, 1952) is an American character actor and rock, blues and country musician. He is best known for his performance as serial killer Dennis Rader in the made-for-television film '' The Hunt for the BTK Killer'', and for ...

as Hollis Doyle *

Tom Amandes Tom Amandes (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series ''The Untouchables''; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in ''The Long Kiss Goodnight'', and Abraham Linco ...

as Samuel Reston * Brian Letscher as Tom Larsen

Episodes

Production

Development

''Scandal'' was renewed for a seventh season on February 10, 2017, along with the other

ShondaLand Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first s ...

dramas. The series continued to air on Thursdays in its 9 p.m. E.T. timeslot like the previous seasons, but unlike the previous season which aired in January, the seventh season premiered in the fall of 2017. ABC announced on June 26, 2017, that the seventh season would consist of 18 episodes. Long-time director

Tom Verica Tom Verica (born May 13, 1964) is an American actor, director, and producer, best known for his role as Sam Keating in the ABC drama ''How to Get Away with Murder'' (2014-2020). He also played Jack Pryor in the NBC critically acclaimed drama ''Am ...

shared on Twitter that he would only direct the series finale as well as the fact that

would be directing her first episode. Actress Darby Stanchfield also directed her first episode.

Final season

Speculations about the seventh season being the final season had started as the sixth season began airing. ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey commented in January 2017 that it had not been much discussion about the show's future after the seventh season, but she would happily keep the show on as long as Rhimes "feels that she has creative runway to write the show." Andy Swift from ''

TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s Michael Ausiello announced that he would be leaving ''EW'' after nearly two years in their employ to est ...

'' said that the show needed to end after the seventh season as he felt "this once-great drama is simply spinning its wheels, serving us the same old flavors with only slightly different toppings." Before the sixth-season finale, multiple sources reported that ''Scandal'' would be ending next season. ABC confirmed on May 16, 2017, that the seventh season would be the final season for the show. Shonda Rhimes released a statement about the ending of the show calling the seventh season "Olivia's Swan Song" as she said:

''How to Get Away with Murder'' crossover

On January 3, 2018,

tweeted out a photo to

of herself in a "familiar" setting, that being a courthouse used for the set of ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

''. Fans began to speculate a possible crossover episode being in the works, which was only heightened when Davis tweeted out a photo in response, that being her on the set of Mellie Grant's ( Bellamy Young) Oval Office. Later that day, the crossover was officially confirmed through a tweet by ''Scandal'' creator

. ''

'' creator

Peter Nowalk Peter Nowalk is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator of the legal thriller, ''How to Get Away with Murder''. Early life Nowalk was raised in Point Pleasant, New Jersey and graduated from Point Pleasant Bo ...

later went on to share in an interview with ''Deadline'':

Casting

In May 2017, actor

, who has had recurring appearances since the show's beginning as Charlie, was promoted to the regular cast. In August,

and

were cast in unspecified, recurring roles.

Reception

Ratings

Critical response

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 91% "certified fresh" approval rating with an average rating of 7.85/10, based on 22 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "With the aptitude that helped change the face of serialized drama, ''Scandal'' concludes its fiery run with unpredictability, heart, and an emphasis on cultural affairs."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scandal 2017 American television seasons 2018 American television seasons

Season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...