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Kerry Washington: "I Love How Vulnerable Olivia Is"

Scandal star shares series secrets.

Although she stated up front that she wouldn't discuss her recent marriage or anything else about her personal life, Kerry Washington was eager to talk about her hit series Scandal and what it's meant to her to be a part of it. Scandal, which ended in a shocker of a finale last May, returns to ABC for its third season on October 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

What can we expect from this season on Scandal?

The show picks up right where we left off, just moments later from the end of last season, so it’s very exciting that we get to learn more about that relationship between Olivia and her father. You also learn in the very first episode who spilled the beans and released Olivia’s name.

Is there a theme to this season?

We’re never privy to that information so I can’t even tell you what happens past the second episode because that’s all I know. But I know the first two are really good!
Do you ever suggest plot ideas?
In the very first season, we all used to sit around and talk about things we wanted to suggest but we realized really early on that whatever the writers would come up with was like ten times better than any ideas that we would have. There have been situations where one or two of us have come up with some backstory that the writers have used, but for the most part, in terms of moving forward, these writers know what they’re doing. We are shocked every week.

Do you think this show can keep up the pace that it did last year?

What I love most about Olivia is the complexity and how strong she is and how vulnerable she is, but somehow is able to deal with the things in her life depending on the circumstance. I love that challenge as an actor. I really don’t know how they do it and I ask myself how they are gonna top it because season two ended in such a powerful way. Then we started up again and I was like, “We got this.” What’s really great is how they split up the season so that it feels more like two seasons of a cable show. It’s really strong. The first season was only seven episodes because the writers were like, “Let’s go for it and go hard and put it all out on the table” and then when we got picked up, we were like, "We can’t pull back now."
Scandal has become a pop culture phenomenon. What's that like for you?
One of the things that I was most grateful for was that we were still working. As this buzz was happening, you could feel it with covers on Entertainment WeeklyTime and TV Guide, but we were all way too busy memorizing our three-page monologues that we couldn’t really obsess about it, which I think is really good. It’s better to be able to stay busy.
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(Photo: Courtesy of ABC)

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