SCANDAL: Bellamy Young Teases Plot Twists, Conflict with Sally Langston, and More

For as many absolutely mind-bending shows as there are on television right now, one of the most underrated is ABC’s SCANDAL. I mean, this is a show that episode-to-episode, I have no idea where the heck they’re going to go next.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t try and get a few teases for you guys.

I spoke with SCANDAL star Bellamy Young (Mellie), who dropped a few hints about tonight’s winter finale, why she’s willing to go hand-to-hand to keep Sally Langston out of the White House, and much more…

Holy SCANDAL plot twists. What can you tease about tonight’s episode?
Bellamy Young: [Laughs] Well, everyone can join the conversation at #WhattheHuck [on Twitter]. There are some great theories flying, as with any Shonda [Rhimes] show, you’re going to find out a lot of answers this week. You’re going to get some juicy, juicy answers as it all starts to unfold as to why Huck was in that room and how he got there and the circumstances of leading to him standing there, holding a gun in the room looking over the presidential assassination [attempt]. But those answers are going to pull so many questions out of our hearts and minds. It’s going to lead you through the next few episodes; this really will play out for a while and you will love every second of it because it’s so juicy. It’s crazy.

You know, it’s funny, because so often actors tease “You won’t see what’s coming next,” but with SCANDAL, it’s one of those rare shows where it’s like, yeah, you’re right, I have no idea what I’m about to watch.
BY: I know! We get the scripts at the table read — the table reads are the day before we start shooting the episodes — and at the table read, we read them cold, which is great for the writers, because they get to take the temperature [of the room] and see how it’s landing for people. And it’s great for us because we’re really listening and don’t know if you’re going to live or die or what happens next and you get to experience that ride together. And so when we say [those teases]  — and we get so excited when we live tweet, because we know how it feels to be in this ride. And so when we say, “We don’t know” [in response to a question], that’s also true, and when we say, “You’re not going to believe it,” it’s not because we sat in our trailers [after getting the script] and flipped to the back page, it’s because we have been on the ride. It’s amazing. Those writers!

It’s insane.
BY: It’s insane. We’ll finish shooting 2×13 before we break for our Christmas vacation, and I can tell you, it keeps getting better. I don’t know how they do it. They blow my mind.

Is 2×13 a season finale-esque cliffhanger? I know before ABC ordered the additional episodes, the plan was to have that be the end of the season…
BY: You know, I asked Shonda that, and I think I can safely say they did not adjust their trajectory when they got the back nine. Things are playing out — there’s a very long skeleton for the story arc, and I think mostly that’s going to play out the way they conceived of it back in August. But I think other things will be given room to breathe in our back nine.

Going back to Mellie’s current shenanigans, how much do you know about what Mellie knew about her husband’s shooting? She had a “feeling” they shouldn’t go outside and then he was promptly shot — is this woman’s intuition, or is she hiding some secrets?
BY: [Laughs] Well, for sure, yes, Mellie, you’ll come to find out all the things that were swimming through Mellie’s mind in that moment as they were driving to the gala. There’s a lot to find out and it’s incredible.

But it’s also derived from historical precedence: the night that President Lincoln and his wife were going to the theater — the night of his assassination — they invited Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, to go with them. And in the afternoon as they were preparing to go with the Lincolns, Julia Grant said, “I don’t want to go.” So they bowed out, and that’s what happened.

But in Shondaland, nothing is all black or all white. There is plenty of juicy juiciness about how Mellie — about what Mellie might have been thinking in that moment and what she might have been meaning.

How is she going to react to Sally becoming president?
BY: Oh yeah, girl, we will start this episode with Sally Langston in the White House and believe me, Mellie is not going to let that go without a fight. A grim, grim fight. Don’t worry, there are plenty of antler-locking coming, because I’m not going to let that happen.

You know, that baby bump is a good place to store some weapons if it comes down to it…
BY: [Laughs] Sally Langston, I will take hand-to-hand, even if she is the president, because it’s not going to happen. There is no President Langston on my watch.

Speaking of physical activity, have you been giving thought to how you’re going to shoot a labor scene? Or have you shot one already?
BY: I will take the fifth on that. [Laughs] I can say…you will see in this episode, there is definitely a baby coming. I can tease that.

Are you content for her to stay with Fitz? He’s not really the best husband…
BY: Mellie loves him. When we love, we’re not capable of being objective about whether someone deserves that love. Mellie absolutely is continuing to fight to save her marriage. And really, at this point, she sees how different Fitz is with Olivia, and she knows that that love is different than the one he feels for her. But we shared so many years together, Fitz and I; happy, loving years. We do have great love between us and we are great partners. And I think at this point, she’s fighting to save the partnership, you know? They’re on this path together in this life. I think she’s willing to make sacrifices for the perfection of it all, the idealization, but very much she will fight to be his partner because she loves him.

And I like that we’ve gotten different glimpses of their relationship via flashbacks. How are they for you to film? Is it challenge to constantly be learning things about your character that in theory you should know in the present?
BY: They keep enjoying the flashback trope because everybody responds to it so well. And as actors, we love it. It’s incredible to find things out about yourself; it’s like life. Every day you find out something new about yourself if you’re paying attention or challenging yourself. Sometimes it just hits you right between the eyes. It’s amazing to be given a script and then be given that, “Ohhhh.” That realization. Sometimes it makes you go, “Oh my Lord, I should have played that scene different in season 1,” but it’s so well thought out and crafted that it isn’t the case. When you go back over it in your mind, it’s inevitable that what you’re learning about yourself was already embedded because these guys — our writers are no joke.

Absolutely. Anything else you can tease that you’re excited about?
BY: Oh, gosh. You’re going to see the DC Five and find out more and more about that and go nuclear. It’s just going to implode…it just all falls apart. It’s fantastic. And what the consequences are.

But this episode [airing tonight], I think what I love most is you get to see people out of context. And that’s what the show does so well. That’s what the flashbacks [are] and the function they serve. With this episode, you’ll see Cyrus at home because Sally is in the Oval [office]. And is Olivia going to work for Sally? And what does this mean for Huck? And if Cyrus is at home, what does that mean for James? What is he going to find out and what is Cyrus going to find out poking around at home and what is James going to do at the office. And when we get answers presented to us, what do we allow ourselves to know and what do we make ourselves believe? And by the end of this episode — which I have to say is so shocking. It’s shocking, it’s a heavy episode — by the end of it, there will be moments for everyone.

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SCANDAL airs Thursdays at 10 PM on ABC. And make sure to keep up with all the latest news at the show’s official site.

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