Scandal cast on the season finale: No one is safe

On Thursday, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and her associates will finally make a big move to take down black ops organization B613 and its untouchable leader Rowan Pope (Joe Morton). But they’ll learn the hard way that “You Can’t Take Command,” the apropos title of Scandal’s season finale.

“This season’s finale is full of twists and turns that I never saw coming,” Washington tells EW. “No one is safe. No one is immune. It’s an old school Scandal whirlwind of shock and awe.”

Considering B613’s pull and seemingly infinite resources, the possibility of dismantling the organization for good seems highly unlikely. “I hope the aftermath is no more B613, but I don’t know if that can ever happen,” Scott Foley says. “I think the government, at least the Scandal government, and maybe even our government, always needs someone, something, some system to do the things that the traditional espionage agencies can’t do. I think Jake would be great at running [a] better version. How about that? We can give it a whole other number and letter. C714.”

Even attempting to take B613 down will force OPA and its allies to cross lines they never could’ve imagined. “In the finale many of the characters are put to difficult decisions, and very important decisions, and decisions that have huge ramifications,” says Joshua Molina.

“The audience and the fans are going to feel very differently about certain characters on this show. What they felt for them is going to completely change after they see the finale,” adds Guillermo Diaz, who teases that the question of whether Huck will reconcile with his family will be answered. “We find out that he will do anything possible to have them in his life again, and he’s capable of anything, so he’s a bit of a loose cannon right now. It’s a bit scary.”

As viewers learned at the close of the penultimate episode, Rowan has at least one more trick up his sleeve to stop OPA from interfering, which somehow includes First Lady Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young), whom he met under false pretenses. “He’s pretending to be somebody else in order to extract information,” Morton teases.

Still, Olivia may have the upper hand in one regard as she’s previously shown her willingness to kill her father. “I don’t think he would ever kill his daughter,” Morton says. However, someone else wants the opportunity to end Rowan’s life just as much. “Until Rowan is dead, or gone forever—and I don’t know how else you do that but die—Jake is not safe,” Foley says. “He’ll always be looking over his shoulder, as will Olivia.”

With that said, “There will be some casualties,” Molina cautions, “of one type or another.”

Scandal’s season finale airs Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Additional reporting by C. Molly Smith