‘Scandal’ Promotes Joe Morton to Series Regular

‘Scandal’ fans will be seeing a lot more of Olivia Pope’s daddy!

Joe Morton has been promoted to series regular status, midway through Season 5.

via TV Line:

Morton’s shady and mysterious Rowan (aka Eli Pope) first appeared during season two and, in the shocking finale, was revealed to be Olivia’s (Kerry Washington) father. The Broadway alum and former Tony nominee has had a recurring guest role since season two and won an Emmy in 2014 for the part.

“Now I can cast some serious shade on a regular basis,” Morton told THR.  

The series briefly lost Morton last year after he booked a series regular role in TNT drama Proof and had a guest spot on Netflix’s Grace and Frankie. He returned to Scandal after the series was canceled following its freshman run.

Morton’s Rowan is the primary antagonist on Scandal, with the character formerly having run black-ops group B613. Rowan, in the back half of season five, returned to the center of the action as Jake (Scott Foley) recently scored a gig as the head of the NSA — and working on the sly for his former B613 “father.”

Morton becomes Scandal’s newest series regular and joins Portia de Rossi (Elizabeth North), who was promoted at the end of season four; and Cornelius Smith Jr., who guest starred last season as Marcus Walker and was brought in to be the show’s newest Gladiator at Olivia Pope & Associates.

We love us some Papa Pope. Congrats to Joe!