ABC's rookie hit "How to Get Away with Murder" has announced that "Trophy Wife" alum Marcia Gay Harden will join the cast for a major recurring role. The Hollywood Reporter said that not many details are known about Harden's role in the legal drama, but it is likely that the veteran actress will first appear when the show returns from its midseason finale.

Entertainment Weekly speculated that perhaps Harden's character will be the legal representation for whoever killed Sam Keating, Viola Davis' character's cheating husband, who in flash forwards has been brutally murdered. Variety is betting on Harden playing someone much closer to Davis' Annalise, perhaps Sam's sister or first wife.

Whatever the role, Harden's character story will arc over multiple episodes, securing Harden in another ABC role after she starred in the comedy "Trophy Wife" that briefly aired on the network with Bradley Whitford and Malin Akerman. Her recent guest-star roles include HBO's "The Newsroom" and "Law & Order: SVU." Harden's next big-screen role is playing Christian Grey's mother in the highly-anticipated "Fifty Shades of Grey," set to premiere in 2015.

The actress won an Oscar for her role as Lee Krasner in the 2000 film "Pollock" and a Tony for her Broadway part in "God of Carnage."

"How to Get Away with Murder" is one of the first freshman network shows in the fall lineup to secure full-season orders. The series is part of ABC's TGIT, Thank Goodness It's Thursday, a prime-time lineup with back-to-back Shonda Rhimes shows, including "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal."

There are three remaining episodes scheduled to air before the series takes a winter hiatus until early 2015. Industry insiders report that the next several episodes will bring the flash forwards and present day together, connecting the dots between the current case and Sam's death.

"How to Get Away with Murder" airs Thursdays on ABC at 10/9c p.m.