Shonda Rhimes knows how 'Scandal' will end

(UPI) -- Shonda Rhimes, showrunner of television's most delicious drama, Scandal, gave some insight into the show's driving philosophy -- and its future.

Scandal deals with some very powerful players, many of whom see themselves as a proverbial white knight. But fans of the show know that no one -- not fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) nor President Grant (Tony Goldwyn), or even Assistant DA David Rosen (Joshua Malina) -- is purely good.

"In the world of the show, [our] America sees Washington as this fairy-tale-beautiful place, and everybody who works there is really helping keep that illusion alive," Rhimes said. "But they're all very much aware that with that peeled away, they're just monsters set adrift in a world where there are no rules."

The show, Rhimes' third major hit for ABC, has a different DNA than either of her others, Grey's Anatomy and its spinoff, {:Private Practice}.

"I knew the end of Grey's Anatomy, and then we kept going, so that I finally just had to write that and move past it," Rhimes said . "Who knows, at this point, how long that show's going to go? It's going to go as long as I feel interested in what happens to those characters."

Instead, Scandal is "a different kind of show."

"It is very political," Rhimes says. "The political landscape on the outside, in the real world, will change -- possibly before Scandal is over."

And as for when that will be? Rhimes isn't saying. But she does know what's coming.

"But I feel like there is a finite amount of Scandal to be told," she continues. "So I know what the end of Scandal will be, and I feel really good about that. And I can see where the end point is. And I don't think I'm going to change that. I know how long I think it will be. But we'll see."