Olivia Pope is one of the greatest characters ever written for television — EVER!

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Kerry Washington playing that role, so it’s interesting to hear Shonda Rhimes say that ABC originally wanted Connie Britton to play her — especially since the real-life woman in which the show was based on, Judy Smith, is a black woman (and Connie Britton, well, isn’t…).

“Nothing felt more important than the sense of outsiderness,” Rhimes said while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t know that there hadn’t been a drama series with a leading black woman for 37 years. When the show got picked up [to pilot], I got a phone call from somebody who said, ‘This would be the perfect show for Connie Britton.’ I said, ‘It would be, except Olivia Pope is black.’”

Casting director Linda Lowy added, “The network was reading us their top choices, and it was Connie and all white women. I panicked. Somebody finally piped up, ‘We’re going to have to redo this list.’”

From there on, they brought in Kerry Washington, Jill Scott, and Anike None Rose: “It was Kerry from the moment I took her to meet Shonda,” Linda remembered.

“She could talk Washington more than I could talk Washington,” remembered Rhimes. “She was different than what I originally envisioned. We were all like, ‘Oh my God,’ because she’s tiny, cute, pretty, and younger — and because she was all those things, she was aware that people would underestimate her.”

Though Shonda completely respects Connie Britton and knows she’s a wonderful actress (“This would have been a great role for Connie Britton!” she said), it had Kerry’s name all over it.