Tricia Helfer Gets A Burn Notice

The newest issue of Entertainment Weekly reports that Battlestar Galactica's blond Cylon beauty Tricia Helfer will join the cast of Burn Notice when the series returns this summer. According to series creator Matt Nix, Helfer will play a "mysterious" spy named Carla, "the public face of the folks that burned Michael." Therefore, we can expect some tension out of her relationship with series star Jeffrey Donovan. "It's a fun tension," says Nix. "He has to play nice, but not too nice." No doubt this relationship will generate some tension of a different sort between Helfer and hero Michael Westin's fiercely jealous on-again/off-again girlfriend, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar)...

The magazine also reveals that the show's plus-sized second season of sixteen episodes will be split into two parts. Nine new episodes will air on USA this summer, starting July 10 (just around the corner!), with seven more bringing up the rear "early next year." Check out the "Summer TV Preview" issue of Entertainment Weekly for more Burn Notice goodness, including choice quotes from Nix like, "I was a Magnum, P.I. fan when I was a kid, and [Burn Notice] became an update of a kind of show that isn't really on TV anymore. It feels new, but it owes something to things that I love." And a picture of Bruce Campbell eating pickles.