Vulture is reporting that Katie Holmes has secured a role on the new season of How I Met Your Mother. She will be portraying the Slutty Pumpkin, a long-referenced character dating back to season one that Ted met at a Halloween party, on the show's upcoming Halloween episode.

Though forever known to people of a certain age as Joey Potter, Katie Holmes has become more associated with her marriage to Tom Cruise and giving birth to a daughter, Suri, that has already become a tabloid target in her own right. Holmes currently has a film in theaters (Guillermo del Toro's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark), one scheduled to hit theaters this fall (Jack & Jill), and is coming off a turn as Jackie Kennedy on ReelzChannel's Emmy award winning The Kennedys. Aside from Dawson's Creek and The Kennedys, Holmes's only previous TV work was a one episode guest appearance on Eli Stone.

How I Met Your Mother airs Mondays at 8:00 on CBS.

Is Katie Holmes the actress you pictured playing the Slutty Pumpkin? If not her, who do you think the role should have gone to? How did you enjoy the premiere of How I Met Your Mother this past Monday?