Scandal‘s second half of season 3 will feature a new actress who will play a “major” arc.

Nazanin Boniadi – best known in the past year for her role on Showtime’s Homeland as CIA analyst Fara – will appear in Scandal season 3’s final eight episodes.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the actress will have a “heavy presence,” but no other details were available because the show always keeps future plot lines under wraps.

Scandal season 3 has been on a break since mid December but will return Thursday, February 27 with new episodes every week for the remainder of the season.

Since being off air, the cast and crew have continued to film the show and have been adding other actors to the production. Last week we learned that Dylan Minnette and Madeline Carroll will play Fitz’s two older children.

The first clip from the mid-season premiere was released last week and depicts Mellie and Olivia having a lunch date. We see the First Lady dishing out a whole lot of belittling for an unknown reason.

Although Scandal season 3’s final eight episodes are highly-anticipated, it’s worth noting that the show has a reduced number of episodes (18 down from 22) due to Kerry Washington’s real-life pregnancy. ABC plans to have filming of episodes 11 – 18 finished in time for Washington’s birth, and they have decided not to write the baby bump into the storyline.

It’s a shame show runner Shonda Rhimes decided not to get Olivia pregnant, because that would’ve been one of the more shocking plot twists to date.

Thanks to THR for the casting news.