Julia Stiles officially joins 'Dexter.' Please don't make her Lila 2.0

Image Credit: Paul Morigi/WireImage.com; ShowtimeAs EW’s Michael Ausiello first reported in late May and confirmed last week, The Bourne Identity‘s Julia Stiles has signed on for a major role in the next season of Dexter. Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed some more details about Stiles’ character, “a mysterious young woman who forms a unique relationship with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) in the wake of the death of his wife.”

As someone who is still dealing with the miserable, buzz-killing hangover brought upon by the sheer presence of Dex’s much-hated lover Lila (Jaime Murray) during season 2, this sentence about Stiles’ character gives me pause. Because even though Rita’s bathing in a pool of blood, I don’t like to even consider the possibility that Dexter can forge a relationship with anyone other than his sister and late wife. (And that lady he likes to feed key lime pie to.) Luckily, sources told Ausiello that it’s unlikely Stiles will play a love interest (phew). So I’m going to jump on board with the rumored idea of Stiles playing Dex’s grief counselor. Either way, it would be a crime if Stiles didn’t have more than a few scenes with fellow strong lady Deb (Jennifer Carpenter). They’re kind of two peas in a pod, right?

If you ask me, Stiles has chosen the perfect project to make the leap from film to television. As we’ve seen with her previous work, Stiles excels when playing dark (The Bourne Identity, and, yes, 10 Things I Hate About You) versus peppy (The Prince & Me, A Guy Thing). And based on the final scene of last season’s Dexter, I’d bet things are going to get pretty dark on the Showtime series.

At least she doesn’t have an annoying British accent, right? Stupid Lila.

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