Marisol Nichols, an actress who is perhaps best known to TV audiences for playing Special Agent Nadia Yassir on "24," has been cast to play "The Desert Wolf" on MTV's horror series "Teen Wolf."

MTV has described the character as a "mysterious" and "pivotal" creature that is making her return to Beacon Hills. In a series arc she will be helping Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) and his pals uncovering some important hidden information. The Desert Wolf is also Malia's (Shelley Hennig) birth mother. TVLine, the entertainment site that first broke the casting news, has speculated that Malia's reunion with her mother will not be an easy one.

CarterMatt reports that Episode 8 of Season 5, titled "Ouroboros," will have has Scott and Malia trying to rescue their captured friends, while Dr. Deaton (Seth Gilliam) makes a scary discovery about the Dread Doctors.

According to show developer Jeff Davis, a lot of thought has gone into this season's foes. Speaking with Collider, Davis said, "The design and ideas of them are based a little bit on the Plague Doctors that were around during the bubonic plague.

"We've drawn on a lot of different references," Davis said. "As far as their mythology goes, it's all about this idea of scientists who worshipped the supernatural."

However, otherworldly the action on "Teen Wolf" is getting, Davis is not averse to adding some day-to-day teenage troubles to his show -- so long as that everyday stuff is spooky.

"One of the things our show does is stay away from those tropes of teenage life," Davis says but stipulates, "If it feels right for the story, or we can come up with a good idea, we might do it.

"If we're going to do something like a prom episode, the location where the prom takes place has to be under siege by monsters."

"Teen Wolf" airs on Mondays on MTV.