Actress Kerry Washington poses at the 21st annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards
IN PHOTO: Actress Kerry Washington poses at the 21st annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles, California October 20, 2014. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

ABC has announced that its political drama series “Scandal” will be returning with Season 5 on Sept. 24. The new season is likely to build on the developments of the previous season finale.

“Scandal” Season 4 finale saw Mellie (Bellamy Young) becoming the senator of Virginia, but an angry President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) asked her to move out of his house after finding out about her role in the brutal killing of the grand jurors in the B-613 trial. Fitz fired Cyrus (Jeff Perry) too because of his collusion with Rowan Pope (Joe Morton). Jake (Scott Foley) stepped out of Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washington) life, saying his mission to protect her was complete and she should go get it what she truly wants.

And Olivia finally managed to put her father Eli Pope (aka Rowan Pope) behind bars. B-613 command Rowan Pope, however, remained invincible. Olivia and her team framed Eli Pope for embezzlement and got him arrested. Morton has no clue how his character will get out of prison, as he is going to find out the details about “Scandal” Season 5 at the table read. However, he thinks that it will be easy for his character to get out of prison. He said to Deadline.com, “On the surface, it looks like given who Rowan / Eli is, to be in jail for extortion or for embezzlement seems like something that might be easy for him to get out of, but we’ll see.”

The confirmed news is that Elizabeth North, the new Chief of Staff, will be seen more often in “Scandal” Season 5, as the actress playing her, Portia de Rossi, has been promoted to series regular. It was Elizabeth who spilled the details to the President about the meeting of Mellie and Rowan Pope, who was posing as businessman Damascus. It was Mellie who gave Rowan Pope the list of jury members after he blackmailed her.

“Scandal” Season 5 premiere episode is expected to reveal the fate of Huck (Guillermo Díaz). Quinn (Katie Lowes) was last seen pointing a gun at him, as she knew that he had killed the grand jurors and was taking orders from Rowan Pope. Also the opening episode may reveal the status of Fitz and Olivia’s relationship. The final episode of “Scandal” Season 4 ended on their kiss on the balcony of White House.

Meanwhile, there were reports that a new gladiator will be joining Olivia Pope in the new season. There is much speculation that “Scandal” Season 4 will see activist Marcus Walker, played by Cornelius Smith Jr., becoming one of the gladiators. He will be filling one of the vacant spots at Olivia Pope & Associates (OPA). One of the gladiators, Harrison Wright (Columbus Short), was killed in “Scandal” Season 3 finale, while another gladiator Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) joined The White House as press secretary in the previous season.

You may write to the writer at a.shrivastava@IBTimes.com.au, with your comments and feedback.

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