“Scandal” executive producer Shonda Rhimes says this year’s presidential race is so similar to the plot lines in her hit show that she’s had to rewrite some episodes.
“What I find crazy is that I feel like the election has been mirroring the stuff that we’ve been writing,” Rhimes said at a Smithsonian Associates-organized event Thursday night in Washington, D.C.
Any gladiator fan can see the parallels between the political thriller and the 2016 campaign.
Bellamy Young plays Mellie Grant, a former first lady turned elected senator who is running to become the first woman president -- just like Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. Then there's the character Hollis Doyle (Gregg Henry), who is a business tycoon running for president. He's outspoken, abrasive and incredibly sexist. Doyle is so ridiculous but keeps winning Republican primaries. Sound familiar?
“It’s stunning for us to have that and then to have to go back to the writers room and pull a story line because it already happened," Rhimes said.
“Next week we have a story line in our episode where I swear line for line it was said two or three days ago… I can’t believe it.”
Kerry Washington, who stars as the main character, Olivia Pope said:
"For season after season people have talked about how big the plots are, how much that we extend the truth. They said that “Scandal” is almost operatic because it’s so surreal at times and the fact that this current election is mirroring that recording, it’s bigger than what we’re doing."
Despite all the similarities in the show, the cast confessed that they’ve never shot an episode in D.C. and they use mostly green screens to depict the monuments.
Rhimes and Washington have both appeared in ads endorsing Clinton for president.
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