Homeland’s final season may still be a ways off, but some of the pieces are starting to fall into place.

The Showtime drama has cast Sam Trammell for a key eighth-season role, one that will see the True Blood alum assuming one of the highest offices in the land.

The actor will play Vice President Benjamin Hayes, a political survivor with an aptitude for optics who crosses the aisle to serve alongside the series’ new president, played by Beau Bridges. Bridges’ character believes tapping Hayes is an innocuous choice, one that could help heal the partisan divide, but the politico proves to be more dangerous than anticipated.

The role is described as key to a season-long arc, though Trammell will only be joining in a recurring status.

Trammell has recently appeared in both This Is Us and Berlin Station. He also wrapped production on the first series of Reckoning and will soon appear in features Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase and Breakthrough.

Trammell is repped by Innovative and Luber Roklin Entertainment