'Sleepy Hollow' S4 Sets 'True Blood' Star to Replace Abbie

FOX’s Sleepy Hollow has a tall order to fill the hole left by Nicole Beharie’s Abbie Mills, so is a genre star up to the task? We’ll find out, as True Blood and Arrow star Janina Gavankar signs onto Season 4 as Ichabod’s new partner, Diana.

Initially described as a “raging supernatural skeptic,” single mother and former military officer working in an X-Files-like Secret Service division, Gavankar’s Diana got a much more thorough description from Deadline:

Gavankar’s Diana is described as a single mom and former military officer who’s currently a Special Agent for Homeland Security. She’s got a tough, take-charge personality, punctuated by a wry sense of humor. She also has a softer, more caring side which emerges when she’s with her young daughter. Initially she doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and that creates conflicts with Crane. They also clash because they have different ways of approaching missions: While he’s methodical and research-focused, she’s active and task-oriented, which is reflective of her military training. She rarely talks about the father of her child—a person she cared for, even though she never saw a life together with him—but she’s fiercely devoted to her daughter and will do anything to protect her, an instinct Crane appreciates. After her partner goes down in the line of duty, she and Crane will find common ground in their shared sense of loss. And the two of them will quickly realize they have another important point of connection—though not one anyone would expect at first.

The series will move from Sleepy Hollow itself to Washington D.C., losing series regulars Lance Gross (FBI boss Daniel Reynolds) and Jessica Camacho (Agent Sophie Foster), joining a list of departures that includes Nicole Beharie (Abbie), Zach Appelman (Joe), Nikki Reed (Betsy) and Shannyn Sossamon (Pandora). Still casting are the new crew of research analyst Seth, “female MacGyver” Rosa, and a male big bad.

The series itself won’t return until midseason 2017, but does Gavankar have any hope of meeting fan expectation for Abbie’s replacement?