Scandal Scoop: Lisa Kudrow Joins Up for Recurring Role on Season 3

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Scandal is adding a Friend-ly face.

Lisa Kudrow is joining the drama series' upcoming third season in a mysterious recurring role, ABC confirms to E! News.

According to Deadline, who first reported the casting, Kudrow will play a politician in the Kerry Washington-led show. Other details of her role are under wraps at the moment, but this guest arc will mark the actress' first return to network TV since that little-known comedy Friends went off the air in 2004.

Kudrow's recent small screen work includes the criminally short-lived HBO comedy The Comeback, and she can now be seen in her improv series Web Therapy on Showtime.

VIDEO: The Scandal cast votes to break Twitter with the season three premiere!

Scandal star Dan Bucatinsky, who received an Emmy nomination for his recurring role as Cyrus' (Jeff Perry) husband, is also Kudrow's long-time producing partner. He recently talked to us about the "heart-pounding" new season.

"Scandal is going to start the season just moments after we left Olivia Pope last season, moments after the car door opens," Bucatinsky said. "We were all very excited to see that, 'Oh we're going to keep going!' We're excited to get to the excitement of understanding the relationship between Olivia and her dad. [We can't wait to find out] who leaked the information that Olivia was the mistress of the president and putting out that fire and all of the crazy. To me, it feels like a crack in the boat. And that there's more and more cracks in the boat."

No word yet on whether Kudrow's character name will be Regina Phalange.

Scandal returns on Thursday, Oct. 3 on ABC.

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The Following Scoop: 90210 Vet Jessica Stroup Joins Cast

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Remember when we said in Spoiler Chat this morning that we will meet Ryan Hardy's (Kevin Bacon) niece in season two? Well, now we have a face to the character!

90210 alum Jessica Stroup has been cast as new series regular Max, E! News has confirmed. Max is an NYPD cop working in the Intel Division and will become a very valuable ally to her uncle Ryan. Don't you wish you were related to Kevin Bacon, even in fictional form? Us, too.

VIDEO: The Following cast talks about the shocking season-one finale

We also hinted at the fact that something might be brewing between her and Agent Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore), because their first interaction is full of sparks, even if they aren't of the romantic persuasion. You know what they say: There is at thin line between hate and doing it. Or something like that.

Another new face joining the cast in season two is Beautiful Creatures' Tiffany Boone as Mandy Lang, an impressionable young girl who gets wrapped up in Joe Carroll's (James Purefoy) cult, whether she likes it or not.

READ: James Purefoy returning as a regular in season two!

EW.com first reported the news of Stroup's and Boone's casting.

As we first revealed, Homeland alum Valerie Cruz has also signed on for the second season of The Following as NYPD detective Gina Mendez, who will work closely with Agent Weston. Other recent castings include Connie Nielsen (Gladiator) as a love interest for Ryan and Dexter actor Sam Underwood as a new bad guy the FBI will undoubtedly be chasing eventually. 

The Following is set to return in January 2014.

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Mishal Husain joins Today programme

16 July 2013 Last updated at 10:43 GMT Husain currently presents Sunday's BBC News at Ten and the BBC World News Impact programme Presenter Mishal Husain is to join BBC Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme Today, director general Tony Hall has announced.

Husain will be a core member of the presenting team alongside John Humphrys, James Naughtie, Sarah Montague, Evan Davis and Justin Webb.

Lord Hall said having another woman on the line-up was "extremely important".

Husain, who currently presents Sunday's BBC News at Ten, said she was "delighted" to join the programme.

"The programme has unparalleled influence across BBC News and on our national conversation and I am looking forward to being part of it," she said.

Previously a Washington-based presenter, Husain was a key on-air figure at the BBC in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and throughout the war.

Husain, who was one of the faces of the BBC's Olympics coverage, is the main host of the BBC World News 90-minute Impact programme.

Meanwhile, Naughtie, who has presented Today since 1994, will become a chief reporter in the BBC's coverage of the independence referendum in Scotland.

He will continue to present the programme but will also host Good Morning Scotland and a series of debates from across Scotland.

Naughtie, who was born in Moray, said he was excited to be "in the thick of it, on both sides of the border, from start to finish".

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