Franka Potente is coming to House. The German-born actress - who appeared on the big screen in The Bourne Identity and guest-starred on season six of The Shield - will appear in the two-hour season premiere, which is entirely based in the mental hospital in which House now resides.

House executive producer David Shore told E! Online of the opening episode:

“Those two hours take place basically exclusively within the institution” over a period of six months, as everyone’s favorite damaged doctor tries to recover from the hallucinations that crippled him at the end last season.

No word yet on whether Potente will play a doctor, a patient or even a figment of House’s imagination.

With House off to a psychiatric facility, fans of this Fox hit have an understandable concern: Will their favorite cantankerous doctor get cured? Might House - gulp! - become a nice, normal guy?!? Simply put:

“No,” Robert Sean Leonard told Entertainment Weekly, expounding on his character’s BFF: “There are certain things that are just givens about the show, and one is the general makeup of House’s attitude and personality. He may stop hallucinating but he’d never stop being sarcastic.” Series creator David Shore also responded to the question of whether or not House gets better on season six:

“It depends on how we define better. That is the question. How sick is he? Does House want to get better? Can he get better? And how much better? And how much will the team be told and how will the dynamic shift with House away? Those are the questions we are going to deal with in the first bunch of episodes, and perhaps even the whole season to a certain extent.”