Jessica Stroup is slated to join the cast of The Following as a character with close ties to Kevin Bacon’s Ryan Hardy. According to Entertainment Weekly, Stroup will play Hardy’s niece, Max, when the show returns for its second season.

As an NYPD intel specialist, Max is able to provide her uncle with inside access to investigations. She will not be popular with all of the series’ existing characters, however: Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) is less than grateful for her help. The pair will get off on the wrong foot, though E! Online teases that their banter may be more a result of romantic tension than outright antagonism.

Stroup is best known for her work on the CW’s 90210, though she has also had roles in “The Hills Have Eyes II” and the television series Reaper. As a series regular, she is scheduled to appear throughout the second season of The Following.

The cast of The Following has expanded significantly in recent weeks with the addition of Tiffany Boone (as a member of Joe Carroll’s cult), Valerie Cruz (as an NYPD cop), James McDaniel (as an FBI agent), Connie Nielsen (as a love interest for Ryan) and Sam Underwood (as a “complicated and dangerous” young man). The second season is expected to premiere in January 2014.