Sydney Bristow, played on ABC's "Alias" by Jennifer Garner, will be pregnant when the show's new season starts this fall, much like the actress who plays her, according to SciFi Wire.

"We are going to embrace the fact that she's pregnant," said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC entertainment during a session at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, California.

"We're adding some characters to give her some new dynamics and some relationships to play off of. In terms of the actual creative side, the show runners this year and creator J.J. Abrams are really focused on how to do that and how to make it realistic and not campy," he said. "There are certainly some fun examples of how she can embrace that in the line of work she does. But we also don't want to put her in situations where she's endangering herself and the baby, so there's this suspension of disbelief that, I think, won't take place then."

Sydney's pregnancy will make "some very, very big changes" necessary in the show since Garner won't be able to perform many action sequences. This will include adding a a new, younger character who will become Sydney''s protege, McPherson said.

"Some of the changes we will get from characters that we're adding," McPherson said. "She's going to get to be mentoring a younger agent and you'll be able to get some of that maybe sex appeal, if you will, in different places. But I think you're going to see a really interesting and dynamic Jennifer in that role."

Rachel Nichols, from Fox's summer show, "The Inside," reportedly will play that character. She'll be a technical analyst working for a black ops division of the CIA.

McPherson wants to assure fans that even though some things will be different this fall, "Alias" will continue to delve into the intricacies of international espionage, telling stories as entertaining as they have been for the past four seasons.

"J.J. is a master at this stuff," McPherson said. "I love the fact that he's embracing the pregnancy. I think it would be a mistake to hide it. He has some great ideas about how we're going to kind of play out that story through the year."

Look for "Alias" on ABC this fall in its new time, Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.