If the apocalypse comes, Sarah Michelle Gellar knows who she’ll beep.
When the TV and film staple landed her latest role, one of her former Buffy the Vampire Slayer costars immediately came to mind.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the premiere of Dexter: Original Sin in New York City on Thursday, Dec. 11, Gellar, 47, revealed that she called on fellow actress Julie Benz, who starred in the original Dexter for five seasons until 2010.
“We talked about it a lot,” Gellar, who stars as Tanya Martin in the prequel series, tells PEOPLE. “She was Dexter’s girlfriend. She was Rita and she was the mother of Harrison – Dexter’s child.”
“She’s very excited about it,” Gellar continues, adding that she and Benz, 52, have recently spoken about the prequel.
Benz played Darla on Buffy in the first, second and fifth seasons of the Joss Whedon series, and also starred in its spin-off, Angel, until 2004, before being cast on Dexter two years later.
Dexter‘s prequel explores how the infamous serial killer — originated by actor Michael C. Hall — came to be the man viewers met in the 2006 series. Patrick Gibson stars as the 20-year-old version of Dexter Morgan as he “transitions from student to avenging serial killer,” per a synopsis.
Earlier this month, Gellar told PEOPLE that she thinks she manifested her role in the crime drama, which premiered Dec. 13.
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“I actually think if somebody probably went back far enough in some of my interviews, I bet you at some point when someone asked me, ‘Is there a show or a movie that you wish you’d been a part of?’ I bet you that I have answered — more than once — ‘I would’ve loved to have been a guest character on Dexter,‘ ” she admitted.
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When her costar Gibson, 29, then suggested that she “manifested” her casting, Gellar responded, “I think I might have.”
“Because I guarantee you I have said it, because I was such a big fan,” she said.
“I always said, ‘Oh, it’s such a bummer that I missed my opportunity to be on that show,’ because they had such great character arcs, and then, you know what? Be careful what you wish for,” she added.
Gellar’s casting in the show was confirmed back in June, with the mother of two writing on Instagram that it would be a “bloody good ride.”
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