March 21, 2011 03:02 PM PST

Desperate Housewives Exclusive: Bree to Have Her [Jonathan] Cake and Eat it Too

Desperate Housewives has tapped Jonathan Cake to play a major new love interest for Marcia Cross’ Bree.

Cake will appear in this season’s final four episodes and then return in the fall as a full-fledged series regular. His character, Aaron, is a handsome, sexy, college-educated police detective with strong family values who comes to Wisteria Lane to investigate a case.

The British-born Cake has a long-standing relationship with ABC. He starred on the network’s sandles-and-toga limited series Empire, recurred on Six Degrees, co-starred in the 2009 pilot Captain Cook’s Extraordinary Atlas and recently guest starred on Off the Map.

As for Desperate Housewives, an eighth-season pickup for the veteran dramedy is contingent on the show’s four stars closing new deals — something that’s expected shortly.