AceShowbiz -

The next season of "24" will see one more big addition. Katee Sackhoff, who made fame as Starbuck in "Battlestar Galactica", has been hired to be a regular playing a member of the reformed CTU named Dana Walsh. Her involvement has been confirmed by a FOX spokesperson.

Being a member of the fictional U.S. government anti-terrorist agency, Dana will work side by side with the main character Jack Bauer. Per Entertainment Weekly, Dana is "a highly respected and down-to-earth data analyst at the new and improved New York branch of CTU." But beyond that she has a skeleton in her closet that she's trying "desperately" to hide.

Before Sackhoff's casting news, there had been a report on Freddie Prinze Jr.'s involvement. He is tapped to play a field agent named Davis Cole who, interestingly, builds a relationship with Dana. Beside Prinze Jr., "24" also adds Mykelti Williamson, Doug Hutchinson, Jennifer Westfeldt and Anil Kapoor to play new characters.

The eighth season of "24" will premiere on January 17, 2010 and is set in New York where the arrival of a foreign leader (Kapoor) is threatened by an assassination plot. Production had been kicked off in late May, soon after the seventh season wrapped up.