‘Madam Secretary’ Sneak Peek: Henry Meets His New Handler, Jill Hennessy

Tea Leoni’s Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord is going to have her hands full in Madam Secretary’s sophomore season, which may mean a little less time with the family. But her professor husband (and recently reactivated National Security Agency operative) Henry is going to be pretty busy himself, thanks to a new assignment from his new NSA handler, played by Crossing Jordan alum Jill Hennessy.

In the exclusive clip from the Oct. 4 premiere above, Henry (Tim Daly) is taken to an NSA safehouse to meet Hennessy’s Jane Fellows, and he’s not exactly thrilled with the task she presents to him: she wants him to vet one of his students, a super patriotic Russian student whose loyalties, Fellows hopes, can be flipped.

Related: ‘Madam Secretary’: How to Make the Show Better in Season 2

“I think [there’s going to be] a little bit of headbutting, because it’s an odd relationship, to be brought into the world of intelligence and just how that works,” series creator Barbara Hall says of Henry and Fellows. “Henry, not unlike Elizabeth, is a bit of a reluctant participant. I think he understands the value of it, and he’s good at it. But it’s always a bit of a strange situation for him to find himself in, just adjusting to what the nature of the relationship is with people you work with in a job where you have to keep secrets and have secrets kept from you.”

Fellows is introduced in the Season 2 premiere, and she will be but one of the new faces in TV land D.C. Oscar-winning Madam Secretary producer Morgan Freeman directs the season premiere and makes a guest appearance as a Supreme Court Justice; real-life former Madam Secretary Madeleine Albright will make an appearance as herself later in the season; and Christine Ebersole becomes a regular as Lydia Dalton, a.k.a. The First Lady.

Madam Secretary Season 2 premieres Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. on CBS.