TGIT Fans Rejoice! A How To Get Away With Murder–Scandal Crossover is Actually Happening
It’s really happening! It has been confirmed that a How to Get Away with Murder – Scandal crossover is in the works, proving that 2018 is going to be the best year ever.
Rumors began swirling after Scandal star Kerry Washington shared a photo of herself in the famous HTGAWM courthouse. “Hey Ms. Viola Davis check it out. This spot look familiar?! Where are you?”
Not long after, Viola Davis followed up with a photo of her in the fictitious White House. “Hey Kerry Washington, guess where I am?!”
Shonda Rhimes confirmed the exciting mashup via social media on Wednesday (January 3) after tweeting a photo of the script page. The script showed Olivia Pope (Washington) and Annalise Keating (Davis) meeting for the first time. “People. It’s happening,” she wrote. Along with Rhimes, How to Get Away with Murder executive producer Pete Nowalk also tweeted the script, confirming the news.
People. It’s happening. @petenowalk, you ready for this? #TGITCrossover #HowtoGetAwaywithScandal pic.twitter.com/laROhxbeu8
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) January 3, 2018
In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Nowalk revealed details about the upcoming crossover as best as he could without spoiling it for TGIT fans. As Deadline reports, Nowalk goes in depth about who will be a part of the crossover and whether Washington and Davis will share scenes – he also provides clues about the story line’s event timing and setting.
DEADLINE: How did the idea about a Scandal-How To Get Away With Murder crossover come about?
NOWALK: At the beginning of the season, my writers and I were planning out Viola’s entire arc and something in her story organically came up that was very appropriate for Scandal. When I went to Shonda, she heard it. I said, we don’t have to do it, Viola’s arc doesn’t need this, but it’s possible that their stories could cross really organically. She actually pulled up a clip of something from Scandal and their side of the story coalesced perfectly. So it was one of those serendipitous things where we both realized it was good for both characters, and it almost felt like we had been planning it since last season.
At that point, we just thought about it because we didn’t want it to feel forced, and we just wanted it to happen really naturally. And then if anything bumps along the way, we just won’t do it. We kept getting closer and closer, and it just made more and more sense. I will say, the Scandal read-through, I, as an audience member, just found it so refreshing and fun, and it really felt like Annalise fit in that episode really well. So now the pressure for us for Murder is just to match that level of excitement that they created.
DEADLINE: I assume that the episodes will be tied together in a two-hour block on the same night, with the story starting on Scandal and finishing on How To Get Away With Murder?
NOWALK: Yes.
DEADLINE: Will we see both Olivia on How To Get Away With Murder and Annalise on Scandal as well as on their own shows?
NOWALK: I’ll say the whole two hours takes place in the same setting, and they have that arc over those two hours together.
DEADLINE: One show is set in Philadelphia, the other one in Washington, DC. If the setting is the same throughout the crossover, is that setting Washington, DC, Philadelphia, or a third location?
NOWALK: All I’ll say is that the setting for each of them is consistent. The storyline for Olivia and Annalise takes place in one location.
Although it is not when the crossover will air, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder will return with new episodes on Thursday, January 18. Check out the full interview with Deadline and Pete Nowalk here.
Photo Credit: PR Photos
