The hit TV show Scandal is about to get even more dramatic with the addition of a character inspired by Donald Trump.

During a panel on Tuesday night at PaleyFest at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, the cast revealed the existence of the character in this week’s episode, which they screened for an audience. The character will be entering the show’s ongoing presidential race.



“There will be a candidate who will emerge who has many qualities that Mr Trump has. How could we resist that?” Tony Goldwyn, who plays President Fitz Grant, said during an interview with Variety. “Except I guarantee you there’s no way he will be as outrageous as Trump is.”

Kerry Washington, who plays crisis manager Olivia Pope, joked: “You think the debates you’ve seen in the real world are fun!”

While the actor portraying the infamous Republican frontrunner has not been revealed, they have been seen on the show before, according to Variety.

“I think Susan nor Mellie is thrilled to see someone else in the race because they thought it was going to be a grudge match between the two of them and they’d each made strategies for that. So everyone’s nonplussed,” Bellamy Young, who plays Mellie Grant, told Mashable. “And anyone that irreverent just really throws a kink in things, but it’s great fun to watch.”

Shonda Rhimes, creator and head writer of the show, said that the show has been influenced by this year’s election beyond just this character. After watching candidates debate, she’s even had to alter some storylines.



“We did have some moments where I would run back to the writers’ room and I would say, ‘Hey there’s some dialogue that we need to cross out because it kind of already happened,’” she said.

Despite this, Rhimes said she doesn’t use this year’s political season for inspiration often, and that parallels are simply unavoidable. In fact, she is “more influenced by Hamilton right now than the election”.

She added: “The election right now, it’s its own thing. You can’t make that stuff up.”