Halt and Catch Fire: Matthew Lillard joins season 3

Halt and Catch Fire is booting up season 3.0 with a brand new operating system — or, at least, a brand new operator.

EW has learned AMC’s tech-savvy series has tapped Matthew Lillard to join the cast in a major role in the upcoming third season, which shifts the series’ Texas location to Silicon Valley.

Lillard will play Ken Diebold, a slickly dressed, self-assuredly confident, undeniably cool businessman who’s also a key investor in Joe’s (Lee Pace) fledgling software venture. Diebold is “1980s with a touch of California,” akin to the Golden State’s version of a Wall Street wolf (perhaps with some American Psycho undertones).

As a prime player in Joe’s storyline (which capped off last season with a big investment in his anti-virus software), Lillard’s role is recurring. Along with Lillard, the new season’s cast also includes Annabeth Gish as a venture capitalist and Manish Dayal as a programmer.

The new, 10-episode season of Halt and Catch Fire cracks open in March 1986 in Silicon Valley, where Mutiny (and its founders) have left Texas and made a go for it in the land of golden tech opportunity. Premiering with a two-hour event on August 23, the season follows up its critically-hailed second cycle, which chronicled a bid into the videogame industry by Cameron (Mackenzie Davis) and Donna (Kerry Bishé), Joe’s messy involvement with corporate villain Westgroup, and Gordon (Scoot McNairy) struggling to come to terms with his stress and health.

From now until our huge fall TV preview hits newsstands Sept. 9, EW is bringing you 50 scoops in 50 days. Follow the hashtag #50Scoops50Days on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest, and check EW.com/50Scoops50Days for all the news and surprises.