'Scandal' will probably end after Season 7, and it's about time

Bad news, gladiators -- Olivia Pope is hanging up her white hat.

According to multiple reports, Scandal will end after its upcoming seventh season. The show is currently in the midst of airing Season 6 and has three episodes remaining, with its two-hour finale set for May 18.

ABC declined to comment on the news, but TVLine first reported Wednesday that the network is expected to make a formal announcement about the future of the fan-favorite show at its upfront presentation next week.

TVLine also indicated that showrunner Shonda Rhimes made the decision to end the series after Season 7, rather than ABC choosing to cancel it.

While Scandal's ratings aren't as high as Rhimes' stalwart Grey's Anatomy, it still consistently ranks within the top 20 broadcast shows in the advertiser-prized adults 18-49 viewership demographic, and continues to dominate conversation on social media during its timeslot. Still, it hit series lows in the ratings in April, and is currently averaging 5.7 million total viewers -- down considerably from its heydey in Seasons 3 and 4, when it regularly pulled in around 12 million.

As the seasons have gone on, the show's plots have grown increasingly labyrinthine -- Season 6 saw the assassination of the President-elect on election night -- and until recently, many would've said the show lost touch with any semblance of reality. Grand conspiracies, government-sanctioned murders, secret election rigging -- crazy, right?

But as Rhimes told THR around the show's 100th episode, current events have made the show's far-fetched political landscape seem a little less fantastical, and Donald Trump's election prompted her to reassess Scandal's future.

"I used to know how it ended, and then Donald Trump was elected," she said. "We had a destination, and I don't know if that's our destination anymore." 

It seems that whatever destination Rhimes has decided on, she's putting the pedal to the medal -- before fans figure out that they can get just as many political plot twists on CNN.