"Scandal" Season 6, episode 1 will reveal that Governor Francisco Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) is the new president of the United States.
In "Survival of the Fittest," the shocking results of the election will be revealed within the first 10 minutes of the premiere, and everyone will certainly be shocked. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) poured everything that she has on Mellie Grant's (Bellamy Young) campaign and losing is not an option for her.
During Washington's recent appearance on the "Ellen Show," talk show host Ellen DeGeneres asked the "Scandal" lead star to spoil some details from the premiere. The actress stayed mum about the premiere for the most part, but dropped an obvious hint regarding Mellie's fate.
"We shot the episodes way before the real election... but it will be hard to believe that we did not know about our election," she said. In November, presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, a woman, lost to Donald Trump. In "Scandal" Season 6, Mellie, also a woman, will lose to Governor Vargas.
Meanwhile, executive producer Shonda Rhimes, as well as the cast of "Scandal" Season 6 were present at the Television Critics Association winter press tour earlier (via Vulture) this month. While there, they talked about the similarities and differences between the election in the show and the real-life election in the U.S.
"I do not really equate the two. That is not the goal, obviously. If that were the goal, we would wait until after the election to write about an election. The goal was to tell the story about an election and the journey. I keep it pretty separate because our world is a complete fiction. When we came together in July and read those first five scripts of this season, they were so beautiful... You find out the results of the election immediately, but you go back in time and focus on different characters and how they got to that moment," Rhimes explained.
"Scandal" Season 6, episode 1 will premiere on ABC on Jan. 26 at 9 p.m. EST.