AceShowbiz -

"The Good Wife" fans will finally meet Alicia's mother in its upcoming fourth season. The show has cast Stockard Channing as the parent to Julianna Margulies' character. The mother, who has been mentioned several times on the show, is described by Entertainment Weekly as "mercurial and influenced by her 1960s counterculture youth."

Back in 2011, co-creator and executive producer Robert King revealed he considered about casting a lesser-known actress for the role. "We're torn on that because we don't want to do the stunt casting for the mom. If we did do it, it might be in the realm of not some high-profile actress, but someone who is very real," he said at the time.

Channing will appear as Alicia's mom in at least one episode. The 68-year-old is best known for her portrayal of Betty Rizzo in 1978's film "Grease" and First Lady Abbey Bartlet on NBC's "The West Wing".

"The Good Wife" season 4 will premiere Sunday, September 30 at 9/8c on CBS. It was previously reported that the legal drama would feature a racy scene featuring Kalinda and her then husband Nick.

Archie Panjabi recently gushed the ice cream scene, which is set to air in an October 7 episode, was "the beginning of a whole string of scenes which I have never seen on network TV, cable TV... TV period." She further teased, "It's so messed up."