EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Dexter's Julie Benz: I Toasted My Death With Margaritas!
Feb. 21 2010, Published 12:21 p.m. ET
When Julie Benz’s character Rita was killed at the end of last season’s Dexter, it was one of the most talked about TV moments in years, taking fans by surprise.
The development also took Julie by surprise and she reveals exclusively to RadarOnline.com how she was told about her character’s gruesome death – and how she celebrated the end of her run on the show.
“Oh they didn’t tell me until the very end.,” Julie says to RadarOnline.com’s Griffin Matthews. "They called me in the day before putting the script out. I was told I had to see the producers and pretty much at that point you know what’s coming, I’ve been around long enough to know what’s coming. So you kind of go in and try to handle it with as much grace and charm as you possibly can. I tried to get out of the room as fast as possible. “
She then called her co-stars including Michael C. Hall, who already had heard from producers.
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Surprising, Julie is a good sport about the whole thing saying “they wanted to do a shocking ending and they really felt that it was the most shocking ending they could have.” Julie and her co-stars wanted to say goodbye to Rita in style, so they had a Margarita toast at West Hollywood’s Tex Mex Restaurant Marix.
“There are rumors going around, people would like to have me back as a ghost or that it was just a dream,” Julie tells RadarOnline.com.
“Let me set the record straight, it was not a dream. Trinity killed Rita. No one else did. Dexter didn’t kill her. She didn’t commit suicide Deb didn’t sneak in and do it. The Trinity Killer killed her. And, it’s not a dream and as of right now there are no plans of me returning as a ghost.”
Try to tell that to the fans who watched Julie killed by John Lithgow’s character, “I don’t think it would really work for Rita to return as a ghost at this point I don’t want to cheapen the impact of her death, “ Julie says. And yes, she admits she was just as shocked to find out about Rita’s death as the audience was.
Julie wasn’t out of work long. She appears in Sunday night’s Desperate Housewives as a stripper who’s creating some havoc in Susan’s (Terri Hatcher’s) home. She’s signed on for a several episodes.