'Slumdog Millionaire' co-star lands '24' role

Anil Kapoor

Credit: Saurabh Das/AP

With more than a month of episodes remaining in its seventh season, FOX's "24" has already begun casting for its eighth cycle.

The network announced on Friday (April 3) that Indian actor Anil Kapoor has signed on to be a series regular for "24" Day Eight. 

Kapoor will play a Middle Eastern leader who comes to the United States on a peacemaking mission. 

Series star Kiefer Sutherland, whose Jack Bauer is currently fighting off exposure to a deadly biological weapon, has said that production on Season Eight will begin in May. Remarkably, this casting seems to imply that the show's writers already have at least a vague idea of what Season Eight will entail.

Season Seven of "24" will have its two-hour finale on May 18.

One of Bollywood's biggest icons, Kapoor is best known to America audiences as game show host Prem Kumar in the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire." As part of that film's ensemble cast, Kapoor received a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Kapoor has also won five Filmfare Awards, which IMDB tells us are India's Oscar equivalent, taking prizes for "Pukar," "Taal," "Virasat," "Beta," "Tezaab Is Acid" and "Mashaal."

Stay up to date with the latest breaking news in the worlds of movies, TV and music by signing up for HitFix E-mail Alerts.