You heard it here first on the Slice of Sci-Fi podcast that Rachel Nichols was rumored by a annonymous studio worker to be readied to replace Jennifer Garner, if the actress decides to forego a sixth season of Alias. TV Guide is now laying more wood to the fire of that rumor after an interview with the program’s executive producer.

Rachel Nichols, who plays agent Rachel Gibson, will become a member of the Alias team in the fall. According to executive producer Jeff Pinkner, “She joins the team early in the season, but they don’t actively set out to recruit her.” Pinkner went on to say, “and if I were to tell you much more, it would give away the fun of meeting her character. Introducing Nichols [into the show] will “show how you [create] a superagent like Sydney Bristow [the Jennifer Garner role].” “She doesn’t have the skills Sydney has, but she will need to acquire them over the course of the season,” Pinkner said.

Nichols is not the only new actor coming to the series. French actress Élodie Bouchez will play a cohort from Vaughn’s shady past. “She and Vaughn share a history,” Pinkner said. “And in our season finale we started to tease the audience with what that history is and what secrets Vaughn has been keeping from Sydney. We knew there would be another player in that story, and [Bouchez] plays that role.”

Balthazar Getty joins the show as Thomas Grace, a rough APO agent .

Season 5 picks up immediately after the car crash of last season’s finale. Vaughn’s true identity and what else he was going to tell Sydney “will be answered in the first episode; or most of it will be,” Pinkner said. “The consequences reveal a new enemy who is far more pervasive and dangerous and mysterious than any we have fought before,” Pinkner added.

Sad news for fans of the character Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan). Ben Katner of the TV Guide has received confirmation from ABC that Vaughn will be killed off of the series.

Source: TV Guide Online