'Scandal' Season 5 Spoilers: Bellamy Young Hints At Mellie's Mindset In Season 5B
Things will be very different in DC when "Scandal" returns with the back half of its fifth season. Picking up six months after Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) had her abortion, broke up with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), and exited the White House, "Scandal" continues on with a "changed" Olivia, a "stoic" Fitz, and a Mellie (Bellamy Young) who may be having second thoughts about her political aspirations.
Entertainment Weekly caught up with Young at EW's Screen Actors Guild Awards party on Friday and the actress hinted at what's in store for the former First Lady/Senator Melody "Mellie" Grant in Season 5B. "The [midseason] finale really saw Mellie personally emancipated — she went through this filibuster process, which was not a premeditated thing, and really found her footing, found her voice as a politician," the actress said.
When the popular political drama/thriller resumes, Mellie will be busy running for president. "She's so excited to be part of the presidential campaign, but I think she's really learning that it's easier to be a backseat driver now that she's behind the wheel," Young revealed. She adds that her character now makes sometimes unbelievable mistakes.
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The upcoming presidential campaigns in "Scandal" will echo the real-life race for the presidency, and this, according to the actress, has been a good thing for the series. "I think [the writers are] taking advantage of this once in a lifetime kind of synergy of fiction and fact and just really going to town with it," the actress revealed. Young also said that when "Scandal" airs its new episodes this month, the on-screen presidential candidates will be heading into the primaries, almost at the same time as the real-life presidential hopefuls.
The second half of "Scandal" Season 5 premieres with "It's Hard Out Here For A General" on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
