'Scandal' Season 4 Spoilers- Shonda Rhimes Talks Harrison's Fate & Says This Will Be The Season of Abby

Scandal left viewers with some pretty big cliffhangers when it ended it's third season run on ABC, but when it returns don't expect Shonda Rhimes and the rest of the creative team to go easy on fans.

They promise that from the moment season four starts, viewers are going to be enveloped in drama.

The season finale saw Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) making a life-changing choice and leaving D.C. and Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) behind, unconsciously meeting the wishes of her father Rowan (Joe Morton). Little does the protagonist know, that good old daddy dearest is actually the one who killed Fitz and Mellie's son in order to become B613 commander and insure the President stays in the oval office.

Harrison (Columbus Short) is the only one that knows all this information, but as he had a gun to his head during the season finale we rather doubt he will live to tell the tale. Keep in mind, Short, who has had multiple legal issues, has been let go from the series.

Shonda sat down with TV Guide to answer some of the fans' burning questions.

First off, she addressed the issue of Olivia being duped into getting on the plane out of D.C. by her father, and how she will react when she finds out about it. "Do you think that she finds out?" the creator coyly replies. "I hope that she finds out, but perhaps she does not." However, she does allude to the fact that there will be more scenes with Olivia's father in them. "Definitely more Papa Pope. How can you live without Papa Pope?"

Olivia and Jake (Scott Foley) have left D.C. together so what does this mean for her relationship with Jake?

"I always think about the finale when she says to him very clearly, "I am in love with another man." And he says, "Let's go anyway." He goes off with her knowing full well that she's very clear about her feelings for somebody else," Shonda reveals. "So, whatever that relationship is, as fun or romantic or happy as that will be, she's very clearly in love with another man. I don't know what that holds for them. They have to face whatever that's going to mean."

Rhimes also goes on to hint about some of the backstory this season, saying that this will be the season of Abby.

"One of the things that we did specifically when we created the show is slowly deploy people's stories," she explains. "It was purposeful. Season 4 is Abby's season. That was by design. A lot of what we know about Abby happens this season. A lot of what we discover about her and see about her backstory will happen as we tell Abby's story."

She also confirms what we had already known when news broke of Columbus Short's departure from the series. "It's safe to assume that Harrison has met his end," Rhimes explains.

Click here to read the rest of the interview with Shonda Rhimes.

The new season of Scandal begins on September 25 at 9 on ABC.