All of the aired Scandal Season 4 episodes did not show one character that played a big role in the previous seasons, Harrison Wright. At the end of third season, Wright, played by Columbus Short, met his end, at least that's what the events tried to tell the audience.
Harrison Wright was in face-to-face confrontation with Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington)'s father over the real reason behind the death of the president's son. Rowan Pope (Joe Morton), a one-time leader of B613, set-up his own wife to receive the blame for the death of the United States' leader's son. Wright learned about this and Rowan Pope decided to kill him.
Although it is clear that Papa Pope had the intention to kill Harrison, no scene was shown that the latter is indeed dead. Thus, some fans are still hoping that the well-dressed Gladiator was spared his life and will appear some time in a Scandal Season 4 episode. The truth is, Columbus is totally out of the Shonda Rhimes political drama. It is not because it was forced to happen with the storyline that the show is taking but because of Short's off the screen behavior.
Talking to Access Hollywood, the 32-year old actor, choreographer, and singer, said that he was battling drugs while doing the third season. He failed to overcome it that led to his firing from for Scandal Season 4.
"I was struggling with drugs," Short told Access Hollywood on Wednesday.
"I had a lot on my plate, and you know, I was using unhealthy ways to kind of self-medicate and deal with a lot of heavy duty stuff in my life."
The drugs abuse did not only kicked Columbus Short out of Revenge Season 4 episodes but also dragged him into a series of controversy. On March of this year, he allegedly knocked a man out during an altercation in a Los Angeles Restaurant. This incident is reportedly what triggered Shonda Rhimes to kick him out. Short was also hit with a restraining order from his former wife who accuses him of domestic violence.
Although his former-co stars are still appearing in the recent Scandal Season 4 episodes, Short said that they have been very supportive of him.
"They protected me, and they held me down," he said. "And that was one of the real reasons - they just wanted me to get my stuff together. Sometimes the bottom has to be dropped out for you to really get it. So I moved to Atlanta. I've been living there for the last five months, five-and-a-half months, and it's just been great. It's been life changing."
As for a possible return in the rest of Scandal Season 4 episodes, Columbus Short said is he is open and working for it.
"I'm really ready to get back to work," he said. "As far as Shonda's shows, I would love nothing more to go back to Scandal. It's my family."
