American Gods has cast a House of Cards star in a crucial role for season two.

Sakina Jaffrey is joining the second season of Starz and Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel as the Hindu war goddess known as Mama-Ji.

Mama-Ji is described as "a match for any mighty god or man", armed to cut down her foes with a necklace of skulls, "acerbic wit and free spirit". On the mortal realm, Mama-Ji works as a waitress in the Motel America.

Sakina is probably best known for playing US president Francis Underwood's (too) loyal chief of staff Linda Vasquez in Netflix's House of Cards for the first two seasons.

Since then, she's played Mindy Kaling's on-screen mum in The Mindy Project and Homeland Security agent Denise Christopher in NBC's science-fiction thriller Timeless.

Announcing her casting in American Gods on Twitter on Friday (May 11), Sakina beamed: "Still can't believe I get to be a part of it!"

The series has been slightly revamping the cast, since Gillian Anderson quit American Gods following the shock departure of co-showrunner Bryan Fuller.

Producers are now looking to reinvent her character, the goddess Media, as 'New Media' — who is being designed as commentary on our fast-moving social media culture.

American Gods has just started production on the second season, and, only this week, offered a sneak peek at the new episodes in a featurette hosted by author Neil Gaiman.

American Gods season two arrives on Amazon Prime Video in the UK in 2019 and Starz in the US.

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