Make Way for Fall TV's Most Powerful Women!

With Claire Danes' Carrie Mathison in Homeland and Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope in Scandal, powerful female driven characters are clearly at the helm of TV's biggest shows. And with the a new slate of fall series just around the corner, looks like primetime TV is jam packed with strong leading ladies than ever before!

Viola Davis is the latest actress heading up a Shonda Rhimes series in How To Get Away With Murder. Together, Davis and Rhimes are ushering a new wave of diverse and strong leading women in television.

"What's more important is you see so many African-American women in roles that are so well developed in terrific narratives," Davis told ET at this year's Emmys. "Where they get to shine, where they get to not just be the third girl from the left. That's even more terrific."

In the new ABC drama, premiering September 25, Davis plays Defense Attorney Annalise Keating who teaches her legal tricks in law school.

PHOTOS- Exclusive Scoop on Your Favorite Fall TV Shows!

"I love all these great leading ladies on television right now and I love that's there's more room for us to come and play," Madam Secretary's Tea Leoni tells ET. Leoni plays a steely Secretary of State in the new CBS drama, which debuts September 21.

But Leoni's Secretary isn't the only woman coming to Washington this fall. Katherine Heigel's talking tough on NBC's State of Affairs and playing opposite Alfre Woodard as the President of the United States.

"The reason that I think we're seeing so many of these shows with such powerful women in the lead is certainly the success of shows that have come before like Scandal and Homeland," Entertainment Weekly's Meeta Agrawal explains to ET. "It's also what's happening in the real world that these shows are reflecting [like] with Hillary Clinton potentially running for President."

Joining the ranks with these powerful women this TV season is Anna Friehl's fierce army sergeant in NBC's Odyssey and Jada Pinkett-Smith's vicious gangster in Fox's Gotham. Find out why powerful doesn't always have to mean good when it comes to Jada’s character:

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