'Scandal' cast, Shonda Rhimes, Ellen DeGeneres react to that shocking death

Karen Mizoguchi
Updated

We need to talk about the emotional rollercoaster that was Thursday’s episode of Scandal.

From that shocking death to who was (finally) elected President, Gladiators were overwhelmed with the events that went down.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Viewers and fans said goodbye to Elizabeth North (Portia de Rossi), unfortunately due to shocking circumstances circling Mellie Grant’s presidential future.

Olivia (Kerry Washington) & Co. teamed up to free Cyrus (Jeff Perry) from prison so he could become the next POTUS, Mellie (Bellamy Young) was set to concede. But North going to let Mellie back down as it turned out Lizzie was doing the bidding of the mysterious organization. Hence, when Mellie finally firmly declined their help, the Mystery Woman (Zoe Perry) brutally beat North to death with a golf club, succeeding her as Mellie’s new Chief of Staff. That’s right, Lizzie is dead.

Following the episode, De Rossi’s wife Ellen DeGeneres shared her reaction to Lizzie’s murder, which marked the end of de Rossi’s character arc after 54 episodes from 2014-17.

“I’m proud of my wife for her epic performance on #Scandal. I will miss Lizzie Bear, but I’m glad Portia Bear is sitting right next to me,” the Ellen show host tweeted.

In addition, creator Shonda Rhimes and the cast shared their farewells.

But it wasn’t Rhimes’ decision to execute de Rossi’s character: it was de Rossi’s.

“Actually it was my decision [to leave]. Toward the end of last year, I started an [art curation and publishing] business and I realized that the business was going to be very time-consuming if I was going to make a success of it,” de Rossi told Entertainment Weekly. “I had emailed Shonda [Rhimes] and told her that I had reconnected with my original passion of incorporating business and fine art. I asked her if it would be okay if I could do less shows and perhaps even leave the show.”

Scandal airs Thursdays (9 p.m. ET) on ABC.

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com.

This article was originally published on ew.com