Get ready for some fireworks when Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) meets Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) on Thursday night’s two-hour “Scandal”/“How to Get Away with Murder” crossover episodes.
“It’s not just all high-fives and celebration,” says “Murder” executive producer Pete Nowalk. “They have a lot of conflict. I think, story-wise, Annalise is the one who’s the fish out of water. She’s heading to Washington, DC [the setting for ‘Scandal’] to navigate a world she hasn’t dealt with before.”
The episodes, starting with “Scandal” (9 p.m. on ABC), are wrapped around the season-long arc on “Murder” that’s seen disgraced attorney Annalise trying to resurrect her once-brilliant career by initiating a class-action lawsuit alleging that many imprisoned convicts — including Nate’s (Billy Brown) father — were railroaded. Now she’s trying to take the case to the Supreme Court; the crossover wheels are set in motion when Annalise’s well-connected former student, Michaela (Aja Naomi King), says she knows someone who can help: “Scandal’s” famous DC fixer Olivia Pope.
“Most of the episodes are about the class-action lawsuit and Annalise and Olivia fighting together,” says Nowalk. “Viola Davis and Aja both go into the ‘Scandal’ episode, and then Olivia and Marcus (Cornelius Smith Jr.) cross over in the ‘Murder’ episode.”
Nowalk, who wrote for “Scandal” for half a season, says the seed for the crossovers was planted last May, when he approached executive producer Shonda Rhimes (who oversees both shows) with the idea. “My writers and I knew we wanted Annalise to take on this huge class-action lawsuit that would get her to the Supreme Court,” he says. “She’s been disgraced over the past three seasons — her career is in the gutter — so this season is a lot about redemption for her and getting her professional standing back. She takes big swings, so taking a seemingly impossible case all the way to the Supreme Court just felt very real.
“In doing research, we met with a Supreme Court lawyer who told us that they actually have to use a lot of publicity and PR firms in order to get cases heard in the Supreme Court,” he says. “When I heard that, we were like, ‘That’s what ‘Scandal’ does,’ so I just went to Shonda very casually and said, ‘We’re doing this storyline. It could merge with ‘Scandal’ if it works with our storylines.’ We waited a few months to see where our characters were and they really meet in a very similar place. Story-wise, it felt like the perfect way to continue their characters’ arcs for the season.”
The writing staffs of both shows worked together on the scripts; the process was made easier by the fact that “Scandal” and “Murder” shoot on adjacent sets. “We all work on the same lot and our sound stages are right next to each other,” Nowalk says. “We all know each other; one [writing staff] is on the 4th floor and one is on the 5th floor. I actually wrote for ‘Scandal’ for a season and some of us worked on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ together, so it was like working with old friends.”
While “Scandal” is nearing the end its seven-season run, Nowalk says the fate of “Murder,” now in its fourth season, remains undecided. (He signed a three-year deal with ABC on Wednesday, so the show is expected to return.) “If it didn’t come back it would end on a cliffhanger. We’ve already shot our finale and it ends with a great new twist — so maybe that’s my manipulation to have the network pick us up [for another season].”