She's come on board Dexter and made quite an impact.

But how did Julia Stiles end up on this Showtime hit? What can she tell us about the future of Lumen on the drama? We've posted the following excerpts from a TV Fanatic exclusive interview with the actress...

How did the Dexter role come about?
I heard that they wear planning on writing a part for a young woman as a guest star. I circled around it for a while, knowing it was out there, and wanting to know more about it because I was a fan of the show. Then my agent surprised me and told me that I’d been hired. I think that it had to do with a little bit of a campaign. John Goldwyn, who’s the executive producer, was the person that produced Save the Last Dance, so I think that he was a big advocate of mine.

You mentioned you were a fan. Were you familiar with the series before landing the part?
I had seen Season 4, and when I got the part I went back and watched the first three seasons.

Was there pressure to follow in John Lithgow's Emmy-winning footsteps from last year?
I try to ignore any kind of pressure. I always believed that my character went in a different kind of direction than what he had to do on the show. Lumen’s relationship with Dexter is different than the almost paternal relationship that John Lithgow’s character had with Dexter. The mentor relationship actually takes her on a strange journey, so I felt that alleviated some of the pressure. But at the same time, I was definitely aware of how great his performance was and how much the audience really appreciated what he did. I didn’t want to be spiteful about, so I try not to think about that.

Will the Lumen/Dexter relationship turn romantic?
I think a relationship as unique as our relationship, to say it would turn romantic doesn’t do that justice. The fun of the show is to be surprised, so I shouldn’t say anything more about that.

How would you describe their bond?
It’s intimate in the truest sense of the word. She is the only one who really knows the truth about who Dexter is and what he does and has accepted that. I think that’s a pretty profound connection. At the same time, she’s carrying around her own shame and sadness and anger about what’s happened to her, and Dexter’s the only one who knows about that.

Talk about working so much with Michael C. Hall.
He’s a great actor. It was an absolute joy. I felt like every day was a delight to go to work, and I love that he’s the kind of actor that works really, really hard and pays attention to every little detail and is very thoughtful and analytical. Also, very emotional, and kind of raw. But he doesn’t announce that he’s working hard, he just quietly goes about his business and it was really exciting to develop this character over the course of many hours with him. I felt like we were really communicating in the scenes. It was very fun to share that time with him. He made me a better actor too. I was very inspired by watching him work.

Is the finale going to answer a big question, or is it more of a cliffhanger?
There’s a finale to it, and there’s also loose ends left open.