Why Shonda Rhimes Could Break Even More New Ground at Netflix

Netflix has been a magnet for top celebrities like Kevin Spacey, Jane Fonda, Amy Poehler, and Angelina Jolie, but the streaming service has just reeled in its biggest get yet: Shonda Rhimes.

The iconic and prolific television writer and producer who has brought us Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder will be bringing her talents from ABC over to Netflix, and we all know what that means. UH HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER-LEVEL DRAMA BUT WITH PENISES AND CUSS WORDS? COUNT ME IN.

Rhimes will be leaving ABC after 15 years, although it comes as no surprise to the network. According to Variety, she had let ABC know she would not be continuing to work with them when her contract was up in June of 2018. Her departure from ABC raises the question of whether or not the network will be able to keep up the groundbreaking gender and racial representation that Rhimes championed and normalized in her shows. But it’s definitely got me very excited for what Rhimes will be getting up to over at Netflix without all the red tape and restrictions of network television.

Shonda Rhimes has given us some of the most iconic characters and moments in television, and actively works to empower women and women of color in everything she does. To see where she takes this mission and style is incredibly exciting. Actual full sex scenes instead of Fitz taking off Olivia’s underwear and then they’re kissing in a bed while the camera pans past what appears to be out-of-focus mirrors? Even more forceful racial politics (although How to Get Away with Murder brilliantly pulls it off)? An episode that’s all dogs? I don’t know, the pawsibilities are endless!

Part of what makes Shonda so dazzling is her ability to work within the confines of network television and give compelling and groundbreaking drama that took over an entire weeknight. So it’s so exciting to see what an uninhibited Shonda Rhimes can really do.