The actor says Shonda Rhimes crafted a 'beginning, middle and end' to the series -- without any wiggle room.
Pretty much everyone may have survived the series finale of Scandal (RIP David Rosen), but according to Joe Morton, any hope of revisiting the series is pretty much dead.
"I don't think there's going to be a spinoff. Shonda [Rhimes] was pretty clear that she always had a beginning, middle and end to Scandal," the 70-year-old actor said as he promoted his new show, God Friended Me, at CBS' Television Critics Association press tour on Sunday.
"When it ended... [what the cast did], was try to say, 'Well maybe there's a movie,'" he revealed. "But I don't think so."
Morton has fully accepted that his time playing the complex Papa Pope has come to an end. In God Friended Me, he plays Rev. Arthur Finer, a man who tries to reconnect with his atheist son, Miles, played by Brandon Micheal Hall. He said "without question" he wanted his next TV role to be the polar opposite of his Scandal character.
"It was a deliberate choice to find someone diametrically opposed to Rowan. I didn't want to do the same thing all over again, not that I'd even be able to find such a wonderful character. And this character is wonderful in a different way," Morton expressed. "I mean, the conflicts are very interesting. He's a pastor whose son is an atheist, whose daughter is gay, both of which go against everything he believes in. And yet, he has to find a way to hold on to loving both of them... and reconciling who they are."
God Friended Me has yet to premiere, but Morton -- who expressed an interest in directing later episodes of the series -- already has some ideas for expanding the cast.
"All of them, all of them would be great. It'd be terrific," he said of his former Scandal co-stars possibly making cameo appearances.
"We have a group text called the Whistle Pigs, and so we stay connected. Katie [Lowe] is going to be in New York, she and her husband are doing Waitress. Kerry [Washington] is coming into New York to do a play, and we all keep in touch," Morton added. "I did a play out here. I did Henry IV with Tom Hanks, and they all contacted me, and they all came to see the play. So we're all still pretty close."
Washington opened up to ET about reuniting with her Scandal castmates in May. Watch below.
God Friended Me premieres Sunday, Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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