'Scandal' Alum Katie Lowes Reflects on Quinn Perkins' Most Shocking Storylines: 'So Many'

Katie Lowes previously starred as Quinn Perkins on Scandal for seven seasons

Katie Lowes still has Scandal on her mind.

While teasing her new CBS holiday film Christmas Takes Flight to PEOPLE, the 40-year-old actress reflected on her time playing Quinn Perkins on Scandal.

The Shonda Rhimes-created series, which ended in 2018 after seven seasons, followed Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope, a former media consultant to the president (Tony Goldwyn) who leaves her post to start her own crisis-management firm. Despite attempting to put her former White House ties behind her, she still finds herself getting continuously entangled in the political world.

Scott Foley, Bellamy Young, Guillermo Díaz, Darby Stanchfield, Jeff Perry, Joshua Malina, Joe Morton, and George Newbern also starred in the ABC drama.

Looking back on the acclaimed series, Lowes tells PEOPLE about which of Quinn's storylines she considers to be the most shocking.

"Everything. I mean, oh, gosh. When I got my teeth ripped out by Huck (Díaz). Becoming a trained spy and killer. When I got kidnapped by Papa Pope and got put under and had a baby. When I got married to Charlie (Newbern)," says Lowes. "I mean, there were so many times at table reads where I was like, 'What?' "

katie lowes
Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

And while she deems many of Quinn's storylines as "crazy," Lowes has nothing but fond memories from her time working on the series.

"There's too many incredible memories," she shares. "The first time I brought my son to set, he was 8 weeks old and Kerry Washington was directing the episode. I had to do a little dance scene with a baby [and] with Joe Morton, because Papa Pope had kidnapped Quinn. Debbie Allen was choreographing the little dance stuff. And I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh. I'm here with my baby, and Kerry Washington, and Joe Morton, and Debbie Allen on the set of Scandal. Somebody pinch me.' "

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Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

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Lowes says the cast of Scandal is still the closest of pals. "They're some of my best friends in the entire world," she says.

The mom of two adds, "We have something called Scandal fam, and it's really true. We are a hardcore family. We're on a WhatsApp chain with all of us [and] our significant others. We text each other daily, birthdays, congratulations and hanging out. And we have reunions. We're just really close."

Fortunately for Lowes, she recently got another chance to work with series creator Rhimes, 51, in Inventing Anna. The upcoming Netflix miniseries follows the real-life case of Anna Delvey (a.k.a. Anna Sorokin), a woman who posed as a wealthy German heiress and was eventually convicted after conning many out of money.

"This is an amazing story. So, just imagine what you do when you have an amazing true story met with the greatest writer ever," says Lowes, who plays Rachel on the series. "It is so freaking juicy. When I first read the scripts, it's like you can't watch it, ingest it, binge it fast enough. You guys are in for a freaking ride."

Even though fans will have to wait until next year to stream Inventing Anna, they can watch Lowes star in Christmas Takes Flight on Sunday.

The televised film follows pilot Jenny Beckett (Lowes), a woman who is determined to save her family-owned airline's annual holiday benefit for underserved children from being cancelled. The charitable event's legacy is threatened after CEO Matt Connor (Evan Williams) purchases the airline, but Jenny starts to fall for Matt despite his conflicting motives.

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Justine Yeung/ CBS

Lowes says she was largely intrigued by the film due to her "badass" character Jenny.

"She's strong. She's a single mom. She runs a business. She's a pilot. I read that only 1 percent of pilots are women," says the Katie's Crib podcast host, who is also gearing up to star alongside Pete Holmes in the sitcom How We Roll.

"I felt connected to her as a mom. I felt connected to her in running a business because I run a business. And I just felt like she is very loyal to her family, to her dad, her younger brother and to her family legacy. I just felt like she was cool as hell," Lowes adds.

Christmas Takes Flight airs Sunday (8 p.m. ET) on CBS.

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