When we last saw Quinn, she had a gun pointed at the head of her once-BFF Huck.

So ... what happens next when Scandal Season 5 kicks off next month? 

Could Quinn really pull the trigger? And, as star Katie Lowes teased when I talked to her at the ABC Cocktail party during the Television Critics Association, could #GhostHuck become the latest trending hashtag for the new season?

Moreover, while Olivia may be ready to take her place in the White House next to Fitz now that Mellie has been kicked out, who is taking care of Olivia Pope & Associates? 

"The show picks up pretty soon after we left off," Lowes said.

"Basically at the end of [Scandal Season 4] everybody’s world is flipped upside down and with everybody you thought you knew their jobs were solidified, their lives were solidified and they’re not. We pick up trying to pick up the pieces from all of that."

What about Quinn and that gun?!?

 "She’s in a really huge pickle," the actress said. "It’s really a conflicting emotion of do you kill your best friend/mentor/sexual lover/all the different various relationships we’ve been to each other [and] the man you lick every once in awhile for kicks?

"The truth is he killed a bus load of innocent American people and chopped a lot of their heads off for fun so Huck’s crossed a major line. Now Quinn has crossed lines but not that bad."

Lowes added that co-star Guillermo Diaz teased the hashtag for the new season as #GhostHuck. (A reference to the time on Grey's Anatomy when Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character died, but his ghostly presence stuck around for awhile. And has sex with Izzie).

While we're not sure if Lowes and Diaz are joking, we'll have to wait until the season premiere to find out what actually happens.

Asked about the season premiere, Lowes expressed her surprise that the writers still are coming up with new ideas and stories:

"The opener blew my mind. It’s crazy being on five seasons of a show. You come and you think to yourself ‘Come on, they can’t possibly have more material. They can’t possibly keep these stakes up.’ But I promise you they do! It’s insane!"

Besides deciding whether or not to take Huck out, Lowes said Quinn is also getting back to business at Olivia Pope & Associates, which sounds like it needs her:

"What I find so exciting about Quinn and where she’s going and where you saw her last year is she’s really holding down OPA. Everyone is dealing with their drama and she’s the one making sure the doors stay open."

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Don't worry, Quinn fans, because that doesn't mean Quinn is walking a good, honest path all of a sudden.

"She’s hacking, she’s threatening people with guns and her bare hands and she’s trying to get Charlie to stop wanting to have sex," Lowes said with a laugh.

So, whether he's dead or a ghost, if Huck isn't around to be Quinn's BFF, who is she leaning on? With wide eyes, Lowes exclaimed:

"Big trouble! Big trouble! I mean, when Huck’s not in the picture, who does that leave? Charlie? Not a good option. Nobody? Not a good option?

"She doesn’t want to take her problems to Olivia Pope because she wants Olivia Pope to bring her problems to her. She’s her boss. You don’t want to take your problems to your boss." 

But with everything Quinn has gone through since the beginning of the series, does Lowes think her alter ego is self aware about who she's become and what she's done?

"I don’t think she thinks about it too much," she said. "I think it almost seems like a different person. You know how you look back on your twenties and you’re like ‘Oh my god, I did that? I was like that? Who the hell was that person?’

"I think that’s how she feels about it. I think that she’s a workaholic, I think she’s an Olivia Pope chick and I don’t think she leave her brain much room to ponder her past. I think she’s really present and really future faced."

As for Lowes' future, she's back to work on Scandal Season 5 and also spent her hiatus voicing an animated character.

"I did a movie called Zootopia. It’s an animated film from Disney and it comes out in February."

Scandal Season 5 kicks off September 24 at 9/8c on ABC. 

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.