Nov 04, 2016 09:33 AM EDT By Elle Levine, UniversityHerald Reporter

"Scandal" Season 6 is finally returning to television after a long hiatus. Fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as the popular political thriller series returns to its usual spot in the "Thank God It's Thursday" ABC lineup as the season premieres on Jan. 19, 2017. However, should viewers be expecting a major character's death in the season?

What went down

According to its newly released trailer, "Scandal" Season 6 will be picking up from where the series left off last season. Mellamy Grant (Bellamy Young) and Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) is reportedly going head to head against Frank Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) and Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) in a bid for the US Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

As previously reported, "Scandal" Season 6 will kick off right on Election Results night. Showrunner Shonda Rhimes said they did not want to spend the entire season focusing on the runup to the electoral results. Thus, jumping right into who wins the race would definitely pay fans' patience almost immediately, Vulture reported

Fans can remember that "Scandal" Season 6 had missed its usual fall premiere this year to give way to Kerry Washington's pregnancy. The "Scandal" star has since given birth to a healthy baby boy, although viewers can't expect to find Olivia Pope pregnant as well.

What to expect from 'Scandal' Season 6

 ABC finally released the trailer for "Scandal" Season 6 and it is as fast-paced as one would hope. Based on the report by TVLine, there is also a scene with an exploding cabin in the woods, leading fans to speculate a major character's death in the series. Could it be the vengeful Cyrus Beene, who Liv and Grant have been working against to win Mellie and Jake the election?

"Scandal" Season 6 returns to television early next year.

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