Kerry Washington’s ‘Scandal’ Reunion Has Us Reaching for Our Power Coats
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Put on your power coat and your Team Fitz or Team Jake badges because you can watch the cast of Scandal reunite virtually. The IRL Olivia Pope & Associates, plus the faux White House members, got together to chat about the show's influence and *potential* future, all for charity. In a particularly memorable moment, Kerry Washington gave behind-the-scenes details about how auditioning for the Scandal role was a "powerful moment" for Black women in Hollywood.
"There hadn't been a Black actress as the lead of the network drama in almost 40 years, so Shonda [Rhimes] really saw every Black actress between the age of, like, 18 to 74," Washington said about creator Shonda Rhimes' casting process for the "coveted role" of Olivia Pope.
But instead of a competition, the Scandal lead said that it became a much bigger moment about camaraderie.
“It was actually this very powerful moment for Black women in Hollywood because…we knew how special this was," Washington said.
"We knew that none of us had seen a role like this in our lifetime, and for us, and so there was really a sense of, like, ‘May the best woman win, and whoever gets it, we will all have her back.’ she added, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The Scandal reunion was divided into two live stream segments to accommodate technical limitations. First, Washington and director, Tom Verica, were joined by "Gladiators" Katie Lowes (who played Quinn Perkins), Cornelius Smith Jr. (Marcus Walker), George Newbern (Charlie), Joe Morton (Rowan Pope), and director Tom Verica. Guillermo Díaz, aka Huck, was part of the reunion, too, but, ironically, the on-screen hacker struggled with his WiFi connection, so he wasn't able to partake in the conversation.
In part two, Washington chatted with her on-screen love Tony Goldwyn (President Fitzgerald Grant III) as well as the rest of the White House cast: Bellamy Young (Mellie Grant), Jeff Perry (Cyrus Beene) Kate Burton (Sally Langston), Dan Bucatinsky (James Novak), and Norm Lewis (who played Edison Davis), as well as Verica.
Yes, of course, the idea of a Scandal revival did come up, given that all of our favorite shows are getting sequels or reboots right now. However, don't get your hopes up, because Washington said that putting Olivia Pope's white coat back on would be "hard to imagine." Though it's not entirely off the table.
"It would be very hard to say no to the opportunity to work with these people again," she noted, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Stars in the House's Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley hosted the reunion, and it benefitted The Actors Fund, which has been helping with coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency relief.
Watch the entire Scandal reunion above and, then, it's probably time to start that re-watch.
