Katee Sackhoff, the actress best known for playing Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, has joined the cast of the eighth season of Fox’s 24. Sackhoff will play Dana Walsh, “a highly respected and down-to-earth data analyst at the new and improved” New York City branch of CTU.  More information about the character is available after the jump.

EW says that the character is in a relationship with fellow CTU agent Davis Cole (Freddie Prinze Jr), and supposedly “has a skeleton in her closet that she’s trying desperately to keep hidden.” I don’t foresee Sackoff sitting behind a desk punching a computer for the entire season, and unless they are casting against type, I would expect her character to get into it with her coworkers (Chloe) and superior.

Season 8 will be set a year-and-a-half to two years after Day 7 in New York City, and would include the reformation of a “more budget-conscious” CTU, complete with new leader. Other cast members include: John Boyd as Jonah Schwartz, one of the new systems analysts at CTU, Jennifer Westfeldt as Meredith Reed, an ambitious journalist with ties to Arman Hashemi (Anil Kapoor), a Middle East leader on a US peacemaking mission. Season Eight is already in production, and will premeire on Fox on January 17th 2010.