Shaun Toub
Will Shaun Toub play the role of Olivia Pope’s friend or foe in “Scandal” Season 7? Pictured: Toub attends the premiere of Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” at Dolby Theatre on April 12, 2016 in Los Angeles. Getty Images/Frazer Harrison

“Scandal” Season 7 just tapped Shaun Toub and Jay Hernandez to join the cast of hit ABC series in recurring roles.

According to TV Line, no other details about Toub’s and Hernandez’s characters have been released. In fact, even the names of their respective characters have not yet been announced. What is only known is that both of them will play key roles in the seventh and final season of “Scandal.”

Read: “Scandal” Season 7 official premiere date announced by ABC

At present, the cast of “Scandal” Season 7 have already started filming the upcoming episodes. Executive producer Shonda Rhimes even shared a Boomerang of their first table read for Season 7 last month. A few days after they returned to the set of “Scandal,” ABC also announced that the Kerry Washington-starrer will have a total of 18 episodes and will premiere on Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. EST.

Meanwhile, since “Scandal” will be saying goodbye to their fans after 18 episodes, there are rumors that Washington’s character, Olivia Pope, may be killed off. Last month, TV Line’s entertainment writer Michael Ausiello claimed that one major character from a popular series would die in the premiere episode.

Following the character’s death, a series of flashbacks will be shown in the upcoming episodes. More specifically, the events that took place eight weeks before the lead character’s demise will be the main focus of episode 2 onwards. Some of the shows that Ausiello mentioned included “The Exorcist,” “The Blacklist,” “Supergirl” and more.

But the most logical option would be “Scandal” since the series will wrap up at the end of Season 7. Killing off Olivia may not cause uproar among viewers since the series will no longer return for another season. Additionally, “Scandal” is known for showing flashbacks and for killing off its characters without much explanation.

In Season 5, Portia de Rossi’s character, Liz, was shot dead in front of Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young). One of Olivia’s Gladiators, Harrison (Columbus Short), was also killed off in Season 3. Cyrus Beene’s (Jeff Perry) husband, James Novak (Dan Bucatinsky), died in Season 3 at the hands of Jake Ballard (Scott Foley).

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