'Scandal' season 6 premiere spoilers: Election results to be announced; Shonda Rhimes speaks on show's unexpected plot points

The election results are in when "Scandal" returns for its much-anticipated season 6 next week.

Titled "Survival of the Fittest," next week's season 6 premiere will feature a major revelation. According to the official synopsis, the election results for the presidential race between Francisco Vargas (Ricardo Chavira) and Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) are finally announced. Because of the shocking results, an explosive outcome ensues. Additionally, the OPA is set to embark on a mission with deadly consequences.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, series creator Shonda Rhimes revealed that she and her writers wanted to rethink some of their plot points for the show's sixth season. Rhimes mentioned how there are a lot of things that unexpectedly "hit very close to home" — things that they assumed would be very far from what was going to happen in real life.

"We literally had a storyline where the Russian government was trying to destabilize the United States government by messing with the election," the EP explained. "We were building that into the storyline. The writer's room was full of people staring at the board going, 'Oh, my God.' It comes from the fact that we all read all the papers, we're all paying attention to the news. We try to stay up with everything both conservative and liberal and then try to extrapolate it to its most crazy degree. Unfortunately, reality is extrapolating itself to its most crazy degree right now," Rhimes went on to say.

Back in December, it was announced that a familiar face from Shondaland is joining her real-life dad on "Scandal." Zoe Perry, Jeff Perry's (who plays Cyrus Beene) daughter, is the latest addition to the hit ABC drama, and she has been tapped to play a recurring role. Details about Perry's character are still being kept under wraps, and it remains to be seen whether she has a connection to Cyrus.

Perry's stint on "Scandal" marks her third time in front of the camera as part of a Shondaland program. The actress is known for her roles in "Private Practice" and "Grey's Anatomy," which are both produced by Rhimes. Perry made her TV debut on the 1980s show "Roseanne," in which her mother, Laurie Metcalf, played the titular character's sister.

The sixth season of "Scandal" premieres on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.