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Kerry Washington: Scandal’s Olivia Pope Is ‘Different’ in Midseason Premiere

Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope in the 'It's Hard out Here for a General' episode of ScandalKevin Estrada/ABC via Getty Images

A whole new Olivia! Scandal season 5 returns from hiatus on Thursday, February 11, and star Kerry Washington (Olivia Pope) tells Us Weekly exclusively that her crisis manager character will be noticeably different after her blowup fight with Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn) in the previous episode.

In the ABC drama's winter finale in November, tension came to a head between the couple as they called it quits, with the end of the episode showing Olivia moving out of the White House and into her own apartment. A trailer for Thursday's midseason premiere was released last month and appears to show Olivia and ex Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) hooking up.

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"I can tell you that she’s different," the actress tells Us about her character in the new episode. "I know the winter finale was really traumatizing for a lot of people with the choices she had to make and that awful fight she had."

"She’s a different woman when we come back," Washington, 39, continues. "She’s wearing bright colors and behaving differently, and it’s really interesting."

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The star, who is active on social media, says it is "exciting" to be able to connect with fans online about the series' developments.

"Interacting on social makes television a little bit more like theater — theater is so exciting because you get that audience interaction, and you feel like you’re part of an artistic community in that moment," Washington says. "And social is kind of like that, too."

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"I would literally not have a job today if it wasn’t for people watching and tweeting and being Gladiators," she adds. "I feel like me showing up in live tweets is part of my way of saying thank you to our fans."

Scandal's fifth season returns on ABC on Thursday, February 11, at 9 p.m. EST.

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