Lucy Lawless joins 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' cast

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (UPI) -- Lucy Lawless has joined the cast of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The 46-year-old actress will guest star on the second season of the ABC series. Details about her role and its duration are being kept under wraps, but some speculate she may be cast as Mary Maloney, a highly skilled agent who can "command any room" and boasts "effortless sex appeal."

Lawless is no stranger to action roles, having starred on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess. She also appeared as the Cylon D'Anna Biers in 16 episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and as Lucretia on Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Spartacus: Vengeance.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered in 2013, and centers on agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). The character appeared to die in Marvel film The Avengers (2012), but the television series posits he survived and continued to oversee S.H.I.E.L.D. operations. The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe that seeks to keep the peace in a world populated with superheroes and supernatural phenomena.

The second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premieres September 23 on ABC.