‘Scandal’ Season 5 Spoilers — Olivia Pope Is Ready To Take Off Her White Hat, But What About Her Future With Fitz?

Olivia Pope is tossing the white hat to the side in the newly revealed midseason promo video for Scandal. And the video is red hot. Literally. Rejoice audiences, Pope and the Gladiators return next month with a whole new look that picks up where the first half of Season 5 left off, burning.

Though the wardrobe has Olivia (Kerry Washington) looking different, her slogan “It’s handled” hasn’t changed, and neither has her uncanny ability to run the show. Not that anybody was ever worried that she couldn’t.

With the colossal eruption between Liv and Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), a wardrobe adjustment isn’t the only change coming. E! News is reporting that Washington about Olivia’s future at the 2016 Winter TCA Press Tour, “That moment is a moment of real realization about who she is and about the life she wants, so we’ll start to see how some of that manifests.”

She also elaborated on an unexpected surprise that the actress said she was most excited about. What was it? A couch. Yes, of all the changes to come for Scandal, a couch is the most exciting. Well, for Kerry Washington anyways. “Having a new couch is really a big deal! I get to sit on a brand new couch and I appreciate it,” she stated to reporters. “That other couch had a lot of bad juju.”

Bad juju aside, the team of Gladiators is back with Huck (Guillermo Diaz), Quinn (Katie Lowes), and Marcus (Cornelius Smith Jr.) ready to leave audiences shaking in their boots alongside the new-look Liv and her flashy red coat.

Fitz, blind-sided and dumped by Liv the midseason finale is also expected to play a major role, albeit developed over a slower time period. With the abortion taking place and the media’s role in the relationship between Liv and Fitz it’s difficult to determine how the second half of Season 5 will play out. What is known is that a time jump will occur.

Meanwhile, Goldwyn spoke with Entertainment Weekly, revealing his own take on the future of the show, and especially Olivia and Fitz.

“Everybody has evolved into the next phase of their lives. Fitz is unfortunately alone without Mellie, without Olivia, and sort of without Cyrus in the sense that the trust between Cyrus and Fitz is broken. Cyrus is still working for him, but it’s a troubled situation, so Abby is taking up that slack in terms of who he leans on, but Fitz is very much alone — the guy alone on the top of the hill.”

With Liv and Fitz relationship on the ropes, Goldwyn explained that audiences can expect Fitz to focus on his presidential duties, “He’s trying very hard to focus on work and making the last year and a half of his presidency meaningful and effective. He’s doing pretty well on that. He really is obsessed with work. You know there’s a ticking bomb in there somewhere for him, that he’s trying to function well. I don’t want to give anything away, but he’s trying to find his way.”

Even though Fitz has been President since the beginning of the show, the relationship between himself and Olivia has always been at the forefront while his role as president sits on the back burner.

Despite this, Goldwyn went into how Fitz feels about the whole situation, telling EW that Fitz is in shambles. “I think he’s miserable, but he’s not showing it. He’s being very stoic.”

Scandal is scheduled to return to ABC on February 11, 2016.

Tell us! What do you think the future holds for Olivia and Fitz on Scandal? Let us know in the comments and check out the teaser for the second half of Season 5 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V6CGdKg700

[Image via ABC]