ABC announced that its popular show "Scandal" will return for a fifth season on the network. The renewal has triggered speculation on what show creator Shonda Rhimes will add to the series.
Erica Brown of ABC made the announcement that the network renewed the show on May 8. She first elaborated on the ending of Season 4, which will hopefully lead Season 5 in some direction.
"Everything comes to a head when Olivia and the team finally make some big moves to take down Command, and Mellie's fate is sealed as the election results are announced," Brown wrote.
Joyce Eng of TV Guide talked with Guillermo Diaz about what fans of the show could expect for Season 5. The fate of Diaz, who played Huck on "Scandal," remains unknown for now except to Rhimes.
"A couple of weeks ago, she emailed us all and said the ending was changed," Diaz said when asked about whether or not he will be back next season. "In the original script, Quinn ends up walking away from Huck and obviously doesn't shoot him. So who knows what's gonna happen, but that's what makes Scandal so exciting."
Diaz added that "we have to wait and see" what happens to the characters on the show.
"Shonda is not afraid to get rid of characters that are popular on the show or regulars like myself," Diaz said. "I have no idea if I'm dead or alive! We have no idea. It's been that way from the beginning."
Diaz noted that approach made the show "exciting" because it forces everyone to "keep it fresh and organic." Eng then asked why Huck worked for Rowan, who is played by Joe Morton.
"I think it was absolutely all about his family," Diaz said about Huck. "I'm not married and I don't have kids, but I can imagine that if someone with Rowan's power came and said to me, 'Look, I'm gonna kill your family unless you do this for me,' I think I would -- I mean, I wouldn't do the same thing obviously, but you know what I mean."
Diaz told Eng that it would be "fascinating to see what Shonda does with Huck if she keeps him alive." During the Season 4 finale, Huck kills off a busload of grand jurors on the B613 case, while Rowan temporarily shuts down B613; Quinn (Kate Lowes) realizes that the jurors' murders were carried out by Huck.
"I think now it pulls him away even further from that normal life, his wife and kid even though he probably saved their lives," Diaz said of Huck. "But now he's completely swooshed further and further away. I don't know if he can ever live with his wife and kid and have a normal life and not forget all these incredibly horrible things."
Eng then asked Diaz if Huck can still be "a gladiator" after that development.
"I think this is something they'd probably keep a secret from her for a long time, maybe forever," Diaz said. "I would imagine if Huck does live, these two would keep it a secret and not tell anyone. I don't know how you can work with someone who has done that."
Eng wondered why Rowan didn't kill off Huck and other characters after getting rid of everyone else.
"Shonda has a bigger picture in her head," Diaz said. "She's got it all worked out in that brilliant brain of hers. That will all be revealed in the episodes to come. I don't know how she sees the stories and keeps the stories straight."
If Huck survives into Season 5 of "Scandal," Diaz elaborated on how he would like to see his character play out.
"I would love to see Huck spiral even more out of control and see what other things he gets into," Diaz said. "I would love to see him by himself and tormented by what he's done. I'd like to see him outside of OPA in his own home and see how he acts."
Diaz added that he "would like to see Huck and Quinn mend that relationship and figure stuff out."
Season 5 of "Scandal" will air at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT Thursdays on ABC this fall.
