They can’t handle their emotions! Scandal is signing off after season 7 and the cast — as to be expected — are getting sentimental about their last days on set.
“I’m sad! I’m really sad it’s going to end. I love so many things about this job, from the story, to the writing, to the people that I work with, to the commute — I just love the whole thing,” Scott Foley exclusively told Us Weekly at ABC’s TCA All-Star Party in Beverly Hills on August 6.
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“I’ve been really fortunate to be a part of this specific show on Shondaland. I think it really changed television for the better. And I think in its prime, I don’t know if there was better television on TV.”
Foley, 45, joined Shonda Rhimes’ ABC drama during season 2 in 2013, and his character Jake Ballard instantly became a viewer favorite (Team Jake!) thanks to the love triangle between him, Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn).
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Even Foley can’t help but to be a gladiator. “It just burned through so much story and I, as a rabid television viewer, I appreciate that. I appreciate being riveted, feeling like I have to keep up. And there is a lot of television that doesn’t do that,” he added to Us. “[Scandal] was fast-paced and you had to be there, you had to be attentive. I loved live-tweeting with the fans. I still love live-tweeting. Talking to them while I’m watching TV and hearing how they’re reacting versus my reaction. I think we were one of the first if not the first show to really implement a Live Tweet Night. And it did a lot for us.”
The Felicity alum isn’t the only one getting emotional about saying goodbye. “We cry twice a day. And I don’t see that stopping,” Bellamy Young, who plays Mellie Grant, told Us at the TCA event. “I guess people will have grief fatigue but I feel like we will pace ourselves. It makes everything so dear, so precious.”
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The cast began shooting the final season last month. “That first table read — it was incredible,” Young, 47, recalled to Us. “Kerry is such a good leader. Because it wasn’t just the actors — it’s all the writers, all production, everybody’s there — she just took a moment and was like, ‘I know I can’t do this every table read but this journey is so incredible and I can’t believe we’ve gotten to be on it together for seven years. So many people have been here since the beginning and every moment is precious and we love you guys.’”
According to Young, that bond with everyone will carry on after the show wraps. “My therapist would like to say that I’ve been re-parented by my Scandal family. Not just the cast but the crew and everybody. And it’s true — the constancy, the love, the support — there’s never any drama. There’s never any undermining,” she told Us. “I can call them in the middle of the night. I’ll be able to call them 14 years from now when something goes right and something goes wrong. This whole experience has been utterly transformative.”
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