'Scandal' season 6 updates: Release date moved to 2017; new season to deliver fewer episodes

The fifth season of the political drama series "Scandal" has just concluded on ABC, yet fans are already looking forward to re-watching the show on Netflix when it becomes available on the video streaming platform in June.

Speculations about the sixth season are also making rounds online. However, fans are in for a longer wait because "Scandal" season 6 will air in the winter of 2017 instead of this year's fall due to lead actress Kerry Washington's real-life pregnancy. The network is also already projecting its number of episodes for the upcoming season.

After the season 5 finale, it still cannot be ascertained if Cyrus is the actual and major villain in the series or if his betrayal and plotting against Olivia Pope (Washington) every time he gets the chance are only out of an unfortunate habit which he does to all else around him.

The show throughout its run has been an advocate of feminine power that when Pope decided to get rid of the baby she was carrying, it proved to have been a shocking turn of events and at the same time a brave assertion of a woman's right to having options and afterward pick from those options she should naturally have access to.

Season 5 has seen only 21 episodes, a number fewer than the show's average of 22 episodes per season. And given the real-life circumstances affecting the development of the production of the next season, season 6 will not go further after 16 episodes, according to TV Line.

As per the series title "Scandal," it will carry on its focus on Pope and her firm's dealing with a variety of political scandals as she and her associates manage and mitigate the effects of these scandals on the public figures implicated.

Being one of the few shows with a Netflix follow-up airing after its original airing on its home network, only asserts the height of popularity "Scandal" has reached. In spite of this, the show is to come to its inevitable conclusion through season 6. Executive producer and creator Shonda Rhimes herself previously confirmed this with Adweek.