Designated Survivor: Maggie Q, Kal Penn Join New Kiefer Sutherland Series

By Alex Osborn Designated Survivor, the upcoming ABC drama series starring Kiefer Sutherland, has added four new cast members, including Maggie Q, Kal Penn, Italia Ricci and Natascha McElhone.

The show centers around Sutherland's character Tom Kirkman, a low-level member the U.S. Cabinet who's made president following an attack that wiped out the rest of the political leaders during the State of the Union address.

Penn in Harold and Kumar

According to TVLine, Nikita actress Maggie Q will star as the show's lead FBI agent who's investigating the bombing that struck Washington D.C. Meanwhile, Penn will play Kirkman's speech writer, Ricci's character will serve as his chief of staff and McElhone will play his wife.

Maggie Q in Nikita

Designated Survivor received a straight-to-series order back in December. Safe House screenwriter David Guggenheim wrote the script and will executive produce with Simon Kinberg and Mark Gordon.

Last month, FOX announced plans to keep the 24 series alive with a new, Jack Bauer-less show called 24: Legacy. While Sutherland won't be reprising his lead role as the terrorist-twarting action hero, it looks like he's found a new home as Tom Kirkman on ABC.

Inside Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q's Emotional Visit to Vietnam to Support WildAid

Moved by his trip to Vietnam with fiancée and Stalker costar Maggie Q, Dylan McDermott produced a short video to "make people feel something," he tells PEOPLE, about the "senseless killing of animals" that is unfortunately rampant in the country.

The couple visited Vietnam in April to support WildAid, an environmental organization with the mission to end the illegal wildlife trade, for which Q, 35, acts as an ambassador.

"We wanted to raise awareness for the rhinos that are being slaughtered in Africa and used for their horns in Vietnam and China," McDermott, 53, tells PEOPLE. "A rhino horn can get as much as $40,000! There's a myth that the horn, when powdered, can be used for increased virility and to treat hangovers. There is no scientific proof that it works whatsoever!"

Adds McDermott: "Rhinos, mantas, tigers, sharks, bears and elephants are all being senselessly killed for products that don't even work. Poaching is an epidemic. It's sad to think that my daughters [Colette and Charlotte, with ex-wife Shiva Rose] might live in this world without these beautiful animals."


McDermott shot the video, in which both he and Q make brief appearances, to "give people a sense of the country," he says, adding that the song choice – "The Harder They Come," by Jimmy Cliff – was specifically chosen for its ability "to evoke desperation and hurt."

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The actor echoes his fiancée's words from a WildAid event last month. "It saddens me to see the news of the record number of rhinos killed so that their horns can be sold in Vietnam," she said. "I would like to help make people aware of the devastating impacts of this trade and persuade them to stop buying rhino horn."

With Q – whose mother was born in Vietnam – the couple also took in some of the sights while on their humanitarian trip. "We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, the War Remnants Museum, Hanoi and Saigon," McDermott says. "We also went to the Animals Asia's bear sanctuary, which was spectacular!"

Finally, as Stalker's inaugural season comes to a close, McDermott can promise that the final two episodes are "bone-chilling, with a little bit of romance sprinkled in that will blow your mind."

Stalker airs Mondays (9 p.m. ET) on CBS. Find out how you can help McDermott and Q's cause for WildAid here.