"West Wing," "24" Get New Blood

It's that time of year when waiters dust off their head shots for the casting agents busy staffing TV series for the upcoming TV season. The 2003-04 season is no different, with several newbies--as well as some veteran actors--landing some plum gigs on Emmy-winning series The West Wing and 24.

At least four thesps have joined Fox's round-the-clock thriller 24, where sleep is a foreign concept.

DB Woodside, Agnes Bruckner and newcomers James Badge Dale and Zachary Quinto will make their debuts as recurring characters in the third season of 24 this fall.

The show, which received 10 Emmy nominations last week, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for star Kiefer Sutherland, kicks off with a commercial-free episode October 28.

Possible spoiler alert: Woodside has been cast to play the President's new chief of staff, according to the Hollywood Reporter. However, Fox refused to confirm Tuesday if the President in question was actor Dennis Haysbert whose character, President Palmer, was in critical condition after being the target of a biological attack at the end of last season.

Meanwhile, Bruckner's character reportedly runs into trouble when her boyfriend gets involved in drug trafficking, but according to a source close to production, the blonde's role is a small one. And so, despite reports that cast members Sarah Wynter and Penny Johnson Jerald are on their way out, it's unlikely Bruckner is meant as a replacement to either of these leading ladies.

As for Badge Dale, he'll play a young CTU agent named Chase Exen who's partnered with Jack Bauer. No word on what role Quinto will play.

Audiences might remember Woodside as Principal Robin Wood from last season on UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His credits also include ABC's Murder One, NBC's miniseries The Temptations and the feature Romeo Must Die.

Bruckner launched her career on CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful before going on to costar in the feature Murder by Numbers. Next, she'll be seen in Risk and Stateside.

Also beefing up its ranks is NBC's drama The West Wing--which garnered 15 Emmy nominations last week, including Outstanding Drama Series.

And the political drama's newest cast member can expect the VIP treatment, even from President Bartlet, as Annabeth Gish joins to play the Chief's never-before-seen daughter, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin.

References to President Bartlet's eldest daughter have been made on the show but viewers have never caught a glimpse of the reclusive offspring, à la Aimee Osbourne.

Instead, Bartlet's younger daughter, Zoey, played by recurring cast member Elisabeth Moss, stole the spotlight at the end of the previous season after she was kidnapped from under the not-so-watchful eyes of the Secret Service.

Gish will make her debut as a recurring character during the first two episodes of the upcoming season, which were penned by executive producer John Wells, who has steered the series since the May departure of creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme.

Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Gish is one of several actors West Wing producers plan to bring in for recurring roles this season, no doubt in a bid to bolster the flailing political drama, which suffered last season against such reality offerings as ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and Fox's American Idol.

It's a second go-round at the first family for Gish, who previously played the offspring of a President in Oliver Stone's movie Nixon. Most recently, she costarred opposite Gillian Anderson and Robert Patrick on the last two seasons of Fox's long-running sci-fi hit The X-Files.

Next, the Mystic Pizza alum will star in the indie release Knots opposite John Stamos and Scott Cohen.