'Scandal' season 6 news: Shonda Rhimes explains why the supposed Russians-U.S. elections link plot was scrapped

Season 6 of "Scandal" is debuting in less than two weeks after being delayed for a midseason block premiere instead of its usual fall comeback. As it turns out, the push back and release gave extra time for Shonda Rhimes and her group of writers to tweak some planned plot points that they have incorporated into the show as they hit maybe a little bit too close to home.

Donald Trump's win last November to be the 45th president of the United States brought about a slew of notable controversies including that of the Russian government illegally having a hand in matters that should just be exclusive to the country. Apparently, "Scandal" was supposed to be treading similar narrative lines as revealed by Rhimes in an exclusive conversation with Entertainment Weekly.

"We literally had a storyline where the Russian government was trying to destabilize the United States government by messing with the election," she spilled. The relatability is arguable there, should "Scandal" eventually push forward with the narrative. But the veteran TV producer explains that at this point in time, they have to be more cautious of the kind of stories that they put out given the current national predicament. Season 5 of the series left a bit of a cliffhanger with the on-TV elections result still yet to be determined by that time. Rhimes previously shared that fans will know who will eventually take over the Oval office from Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) in the first 10 minutes of the season premiere.

"It's not just that we didn't want to be bold and big in a show like this," Rhimes explained and understandably so given that "Scandal" has not been on the air for its flimsy storyline. More often than not, the political drama takes sensitive topics head on. "I think there are things that hit very close to home that I certainly never anticipated. I just don't think that I thought that we would be in this mood. So there are definitely a lot of things that hit very close to home that we hadn't anticipated, things that I thought would be so far from what was gonna happen that felt like fantasy or felt like I could revel in them because they weren't gonna be true. And they turned out to be a little bit too true," she further went on to say.

"Scandal" season 6 premieres Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.