As if waiting until mid-January for new 24 episodes wasn't difficult enough, rumours about the new cast are getting very juicy.

E! Online reports that Peter Weller, JoBeth Williams and Julian Sands will be joining Kiefer Sutherland and gang on the hit Fox series.

The new season -- which is Day 5 for agent Jack Bauer -- will begin with Bauer, who is presumed dead, and his new life with girlfriend and son, played by newcomers Connie Britton and Brady Corbett.

Weller, of Robocop fame, is said to be playing federal agent Christopher Henderson, who recruited Bauer to CTU more than a decade earlier. Williams will play his wife. Sands will play Vladimir Bierko, a billionaire bad guy.

Previously announced cast additions include former Hobbit Sean Astin, who will play a fellow CTU agent and ex-Designing Woman Jean Smart as the First Lady.

24 is scheduled to return with a four-hour, two-night premiere Jan. 15 and 16 on Fox.