Shonda Rhimes and Kerry Washington Talk About That Shocking 'Scandal' Season Premiere

— -- "Scandal" finally returned Thursday night with an all new shocking episode that no one saw coming.

If you don't want any spoilers, stop reading now!

Season 6 of “Scandal” finally revealed the presidential election results. Former first lady-turned-presidential candidate Mellie Grant lost the election in a hard-to-swallow defeat.

The winner, Frankie Vargas, was assassinated before viewers could even mourn Mellie's loss.

Kerry Washington, who portrays Pope, told People magazine she "was shocked."

"We have already had assassination attempts on our show," she said, adding, "I did not see it coming at all."

Washington, 39, hopes that the assassination provides an opportunity for Grant.

"I think she sees another opportunity to change and fix and help her country in the light of this tragedy," she said. "It may be that serving and helping and fixing is also aligned with some of her agenda, but I think she really is trying to think about what’s best for the country."

"Scandal" creator Shonda Rhimes said true gladiators -- fans of the show -- shouldn't be surprised by what happened on the season's premiere.

"'Scandal' has always lived in this dark place with this idea that Washington is filled with this underbelly of monsters," she told Entertainment Weekly. "That if the real world understood how dark, twisted and corrupt it really was, they would never agree with our government or want to be part of it. It’s been kind of fun to live in that world. It felt like a fictional world."

Rhimes, 47, admitted that she amended the show's plot after the election of President Trump.

"I did feel like people were worried about the nation’s appetite for watching something about politics and I think people were worried about the darkness," she said. "Do you want to watch a scary story in the dark?"

She continued, "There had been arcs that had been planned forever [that were scrapped], mostly because of the stories that I am now in the mood to tell. Like everybody else, I need to talk about something that was a little more positive now. It’s no longer fun to live in that world as much."

Will fans find out who killed President-elect Vargas? Rhimes said they will discover who pulled the trigger "within the first five or six episodes. That becomes clear."