Scandal's season three order has been trimmed down by four episodes, leaving the ABC show with a total of 18 for the season.
According to Entertainment Weekly, there was no reason given for the cut down and the show's third season has done well in viewers. The latest episode managed to draw in 3.1 million in the important 18-49 demographic and 8.6 million during the show's time slot.
Variety speculates that the reduction in episodes might be because of show star, Kerry Washington's recently announced pregnancy.
Scandal's fall finale airs next week before the show takes a normal winter hiatus and returns in January.
At the end of October it was revealed that Washington and husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, were expecting a child.
A source told Us Weekly at the time that "She's about four months along."
The Scandal star is well-known to be quite private, with her marriage to the NFL player going unnoticed for a short time. She said of staying private, "I've had earlier times in my career when I did talk about it. But I couldn't just turn around and say, 'I only want to talk about the good stuff, but not the bad stuff.' So I just thought, 'Okay, no more."
image: ABC