So much for a Lauren Graham appearance in Bad Santa 2! Billy Bob Thornton’s foul-mouthed crook will have a new love interest in the upcoming sequel, as former Mad Men star Christina Hendricks has joined the lineup, joining fellow new addition Kathy Bates and a few other returning stars whose names are not Lauren Graham.

Miramax and Broad Green officially announced Hendricks’ casting in Bad Santa 2, in which she’ll play the role of Diane, a woman who runs a charity and melts the stone cold heart of Thornton’s Willie T. Stokes. Bates will play Stokes’ mother (even though she’s only seven years Thornton’s senior), with Tony Cox reprising the role of Stokes’ criminal partner Marcus. Although Brett Kelly is returning to play the weird little kid — simply known as The Kid — with whom Stokes formed an unlikely friendship in the first film, Graham is sitting this one out.

Mark Waters (Mean Girls) is directing Bad Santa 2 based on a script by Doug Ellin (Entourage), Shauna Cross (Whip It) and Johnny Rosenthal. Terry Zwigoff directed the original 2003 film, but declined to return for the sequel.

Hendricks has been enjoying a rather interesting post-Mad Men career with recent roles in Ryan Gosling’s Lost River and the Comedy Central series Another Period. She can be seen next reuniting with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn for the Los Angeles-set horror flick The Neon Demon, and has roles opposite Michael K. Williams in the Sundance series Hap and Leonard, and with Charlie Day and Ice Cube in Fist Fight.

Bad Santa 2 hits theaters on November 23.

More From 94.5 KATS