Rhimes took to her Twitter page late Tuesday to share the news.
“John Barrowman is here working at @ScandalABC today. Life is good. #torchwood #captainjack #iamanerd” the prolific showrunner wrote.
This marks the second time Barrowman has worked with Rhimes: He starred in the Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy creator’s 2012 ABC drama pilot Gilded Lilys, which did not move forward at the network.
John Barrowman interviews with TV Fanactic:
TVF: What can you say about Scandal (Barrowman guests on the May 9th episode)?
JB: I am going to be in Scandal. That’s all I can tell you. That was it.
TVF: Can you tell me how was your experience shooting Scandal?
JB: They were wonderfully supportive because I’ll tell you what happened. I had been filming until 1:15 the night before on Arrow. I then got right to the airport for a 4:30 check-in, and I flew on a six o’clock flight on Alaska Airlines to Los Angeles, got off the plane, went to a wardrobe fitting. I finished the wardrobe fitting, went to set and started shooting eight pages which I got two days before.
I was a nervous wreck, and the first rehearsal I did was horrific, and the first couple of takes, I got myself into a state of panic because I know what the show is like. I know what they expect from you and I felt that I was tired and I put myself in a position that I’d never put myself in before, where I felt really like I was, I know I wasn’t, but I felt like I was letting people down because I felt that I was prepared, but all of a sudden, it fucking went out of the window because I built this whole thing up in my head. Anyway, I can’t tell who I was working with, but we got through the day, and the team there was so supportive.
TVF: Did Shonda Rhimes tell you everything about this mysterious character on Scandal and what’s going on? Or did you do it more because you had done the Gilded Lilys pilot with her last year?
JB: They rang and said, ‘We have a role for you that we’d like you to do at Scandal.” I know that my agents at WME (William Morris Endeavor)…I just said, ‘Look, Shonda keeps talking about this. Give her a call, and let’s see if we can make it happen.’ Shonda made it happen and I’m chuffed that she made it happen because I love working for her.
Shondaland is like working for a family, and all of the shows that I’ve been involved in, we feel like a family. I have been really blessed with every, and I hate using that word, blessed because everybody uses it, but I’ve been really fortunate that most of the shows I have done, apart from a few, I really felt like we’ve been a family unit, and that’s what Shondaland is.
According to Shonda Rhimes in her Hollywood Reporter interview: “He’s in the penultimate episode and plays a fixer with a very surprising client.” Could Olivia Pope or President Fitz Grant be his client?
He’ll appear in the May 9 episode, Scandal’s penultimate hour of the season.
Barrowman currently is recurring on The CW’s freshman drama Arrow.