I still have people coming up to me, and it was, what, six or seven years ago when that finale aired? And they tell me who they were watching with, what their emotional reaction was, and how they were devastated for weeks about [Rita's death in Dexter].

I love doing sitcoms and I love performing in front of a live audience, so [Payne] was a really fun experience.

When I first auditioned for Dexter... Well, I was sent the script, and I read it and loved it, and I knew right away that it was going to be a hit because it's the type of programming that I like to watch. It's that very morally ambiguous thing where you find yourself rooting for someone who's really an awful person, but... is he doing good? You're constantly calling into question your own moral code. I love that as an audience member.

[John Larroquette] is very generous as the star of a show. He always made sure that if we had a joke that didn't work or something, he'd fight for the other actors.

I had the prosthetics on, and I went to my trailer, I looked in the mirror, and I smiled. And I was, like, "This is the character - everything she does is with a smile and a bit of glee and joy." And that's how I created Darla [from Buffy The Vampire Slayer]. Prior to that, I was, like, "I have no idea how to play this 400-year-old vampire from hell!".

I really didn't know who Dario [Argento] was. I didn't know who Harvey Keitel was. It was a wonderful experience, though.

I just don't think [Payne] was the right time to do it, maybe. It was timing, not so much that it was executed wrong.