It has been a busy 48 hours for the cast of The Good Wife. On Monday, it was announced that Maura Tierney (rejoining her former ER castmate Julianna Marguiles) and British actor Marc Warren would be joining The Good Wife cast for season 4 in recurring guest roles. Then yesterday, it was announced Kristin Chenoweth (GCB, Glee) would also be joining in an important guest role. Today, the casting news continued with the addition of Broadway favorite Nathan Lane.

Lane, along with fellow Tony-winner Chenoweth, Tierney and Warren, will be introduced in the season 4 premiere this fall. According to CBS, his character will be “a bottom line-obsessed manager imposed on Lockhart & Gardner by the bank to cut costs and get the firm back to fiscal health.” Being this outside instigator, Lane’s character will be an antagonist at the firm, proving to be yet another source of stress for Diane and Will, who ended last season avoiding bankruptcy after a duel attack from the “Dream Team.”

Interestingly, Lane was considered for the role of Eli Gold in season 1 (played by Alan Cumming, who has earned two Emmy nominations for his work). Lane’s Broadway credits include Guys and Dolls, The Odd Couple and The Producers (Lane also starred in the movie version of the musical). Among his film credits, he is known for his role in the Mike Nichols comedy The Birdcage (which also starred The Good Wife‘s Christine Baranski).

With all these Broadway veterans, it’s natural to wonder about a musical episode of The Good Wife for this season. While it would be interesting to see the drama’s serious characters (can you picture Alicia and Kalinda singing a duet?) in such a contradictory light, it’s probably just the result of the show being filmed in the theater-centric New York.

What do you think of the recent cast additions? Are you excited for the new storylines they’ll bring to season 4?

(Image courtesy of WENN)

Jenn Lee

Staff Writer, BuddyTV

Jenn grew up in Ohio before moving to Seoul, Korea, where she attended international school and failed to learn Korean. From there she went on to earn a BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania before settling in Seattle, where she now spends too much time pondering the power of narrative in TV shows and novels. While she loves a good smart comedy (a la Community or Parks and Recreation), her favorite current show is Breaking Bad; all-time mentions include Arrested DevelopmentLost and Friends. When she’s not consuming television or literature, she’s savoring pastries and searching for the city’s ultimate sandwich.