Olivia Pope finally found a way to end her father's rule as Command, but will charges of extortion and embezzlement keep the powerful Eli a.k.a. Rowan Pope locked behind bars on "Scandal?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," Joe Morton, who plays Papa Pope on the ABC series, told Deadline. "I mean, we don't know. Shonda [Rhimes] doesn't let us know until we actually sit down at a table read."
"Scandal" wrapped up its fourth season with the dismantling of B613 and Rowan's reign as Command, but he won't get to live out his life as Eli Pope, an employee of the Smithsonian. Olivia (Kerry Washington) and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Jake (Scott Foley), see to it that he's arrested for stealing money and put in jail.
"On the surface, it looks like given who Rowan/Eli is, to be in jail for extortion or for embezzlement seems like something that might be easy for him to get out of but we'll see," Morton said. "Who knows what will come out of the mind of Shonda Rhimes."
Morton kept the secret of Olivia's paternity for most of season two, which closed with Rowan pulling her into his car and her reaction being, "Dad?!" The Emmy-winning actor has also embraced his role as the "worst parent on TV."
"It's a terrible thing if the only way your child knows that you love them is if you don't kill them. I think that's kind of where it started that... he's gotten darker and darker because he's unable to reach her in the way that he would like."
The fifth season of "Scandal" will premiere on Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
