Is This Scandal‘s Last Season? Here’s What Shonda Rhimes Has To Say

Call in Olivia Pope & Associates, 'cause someone's going to have to clean up the thousands of Olitz and Olake fans who just fainted in front of their screens. During Good Morning America, Lara Spencer said the upcoming sixth season of Scandal would be its last, attributing this "fact" to creator Shonda Rhimes herself. This is the first anyone had heard of the ABC political drama coming to a close. "I'm afraid to say it... Shonda Rhimes, she said, yeah," Spencer said, according to E! News. "And it is tremendous, so enjoy every minute of it." This, apparently, was also the first time Rhimes herself had heard this news. She was quick to respond on Twitter.

What Rhimes has said is that she knows how the intrigue will wrap up between Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope, her assassin and president lovers, ex-CIA pops, and presidential candidate frenemy. Way back in 2013, she told NPR, "But I feel like there is a finite amount of Scandal to be told. So I know what the end of Scandal will be, and I feel really good about that. And I can see where the end point is. And I don't think I'm going to change that... I know how long I think it will be. But we'll see." We hope it will last at least long enough to show us a strong — but intrigue-packed — Mellie Grant administration. Spencer was soon back on the air to correct herself. "My apologies," she said. "[Rhimes] said she has an ending in mind, but that ending is not happening this next season. So thank you, Shonda. Yes, we can all breathe, because as you guys know, it is my absolute favorite show."