Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid, pictured onstage at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards Nominations Announcement Dec. 10, 2015, in Beverly Hills, California, has joined the cast of "Fortitude" Season 2. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

In a push for bigger ratings, TV channel Sky Atlantic has nabbed some stars for Season 2 of its most successful show to date, "Fortitude," adding Golden Globe nominee Dennis Quaid and "Game of Thrones" actress Michelle Fairley. A press release from Sky Atlantic and Participant media Tuesday announced an impressive list of veteran actors joining the arctic drama for its sophomore run.

In addition to Quaid (“The Art of More,” Far From Heaven) and Fairley, Parminder Nagra (“The Blacklist,” “ER”), Robert Sheehan (“Misfits”), and Ken Stott (“The Missing”) have joined the cast. Principal photography has begun in London and new episodes are expected to premiere in Fall 2016.

The addition of Quaid and Fairley should bolster what is already Sky Atlantic's most watched series. The Season 1 premiere on Jan. 29, 2015 netted 3.2 million viewers, leading to the sale of the broadcast rights for the show in 170 territories. With more than 400 scripted series airing in 2015, there is a lot of competition out there for emerging players in the prestige cable drama game and stars help — just ask WGN America, which scored its biggest premiere ever in January with "Outsiders" on the backs of big names like David Morse ("Treme," "The Hurt Locker") and Ryan Hurst ("Sons of Anarchy").

"Fortitude" takes place in an Arctic town where warmer temperatures may be melting the ice around the tight-knit community, but a criminal investigation is sending a chill down residents' spines. The shows kicks off with the murder of a research scientist that results in the local cops becoming suspicious of each other as the investigation exposes some dark secrets in the cold community.

"Fortitude" airs concurrently on Sky Atlantic in the U.K. and Participant Media's Pivot in the U.S. Season 1 stars Sofie Gråbøl (“The Killing”), Richard Dormer (“Game of Thrones”), Luke Treadaway ("Unbroken"), Darren Boyd (“Stan Lee’s Lucky Man”), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (“The Borgias”), Mia Jexen ("Happiness"), Alexandra Moen (“Strike Back”), Verónica Echegui ("The Cold Light of Day"), Sienna Guillory (“Stan Lee’s Lucky Man”) and Ramon Tikaram ("Jupiter Ascending") are all set to return.

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