Scandal season 7 will be its final season

According to a new exclusive report, season 7 of Scandal, which will air later this year, will be the show’s final season.

Before our abbreviated season 6 ends, TVLine has exclusively learned that Scandal’s seventh season will be its last.

Though ABC hasn’t made a formal announcement, Michael Ausiello of TVLine puts it like this:

"The network is expected to make a formal announcement at its upfront presentation on Tuesday. I’m told series creator Shonda Rhimes made the call to conclude the series, and ABC accepted her decision."

Because Ausiello and I are kindred spirits (we both love, love Gilmore Girls), I must accept what he is saying as fact. And that’s no matter how much it hurts. Based on the position of Scandal right now, that means we’ll only get one season of President Mellie in action then.

On the other hand, I have to agree with Shonda Rhimes, who admitted, “there is a finite amount of Scandal to be told.” So with that understanding, we can also accept that she has a plan and an end goal in line. Expect season 7 to be as naturally explosive as previous seasons. Only this time, we’ll have a satisfying ending to look forward to.

Of course, television will miss Olivia Pope’s ferocity. But if we know Shonda Rhimes and the way Shondaland runs at ABC, many more powerful characters will take her place. Furthermore, I’m sure we’ll see Kerry Washington and plenty of other principal actors pop up elsewhere on ABC.

While How to Get Away with Murder is still new, we don’t know how much longer Viola Davis and her merry band of murderers will keep up the charade. The material of HTGAWM is a lot closer to Scandal, so it may carry the same longevity. Luckily, another Shonda show comes down the pipeline soon as Still Star-Crossed makes it debut on May 29. Though, it remains to be seen how well that show will do.

New episodes of Scandal air every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET with the two-hour finale airing on May 18.

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