ABC's political thriller "Scandal" Season 3 is adding new names to its cast list. The latest to join is Paul Adelstein, Cooper Freedman of drama series "Private Practice," which ended, earlier this year.

TVLine reports that he is will be joining the cast of "Scandal" and is likely to have a recurring role. TVLine calls it a "plum role" though his character's name and sketch have not yet been revealed. As reported earlier, Lisa Kudrow is also joining "Scandal" and will be playing the role of high-profile politician. There is not much information about her character, but it is said to be her first major role on T.V. after "Friends."

"Scandal," created by Shonda Rhimes, is about professional fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). She fixes problems of the politicians, before it has the potential to come in the public sphere. In the Season 2 finale, the media comes to know about the kind of relationship she has with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) -- she is his mistress. And, she is being questioned on that. The person who leaked the information to the media is yet to be revealed.

"I was really adamant about the fact that if we were going to end the season with the idea that Liv (Olivia) has been somehow outed by some unknown force and we meet her dad, we couldn't then just say we're going to jump ahead and cheat the audience of what all that meant," Rhimes had said, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "We had to have a solution to that and we had to own that story. We're not going to put that away and just tidy that up and move on. We're going to have to live in that."

ABC renewed the drama series for its third season in May, 2013. "Scandal" Season 3 is slated to air on October 3, 2013. It is expected that the new season of "Scandal" begins, with no flash-forward or time leap.

"We actually are talking about starting next time with no time jump at all. Starting maybe 25 minutes after we leave the last season," Shonda Rhimes had said, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.