[JEFF BICKS] A pilot of a small plane in his 50′s, Jeff and his wife, Daphne, run a small business flying aerial banners around Fairview. A beaten-down-by-life kind of man, flying is his only escape from his nagging wife. GUEST STAR

[DAPHNE BICKS] Jeff’s wife in her 50′s, she’s a sardonic woman who loves to complain. She seems to easily find fault in everything her husband does…GUEST STAR

[OFFICER #1 & #2 sptv050769] These uniformed officers in their late 20′s – late 30′s investigate a stabbing. CO-STAR SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES.

[NURSE] This woman in her mid 20′s – 40 announces a visitor to a patient. CO-STAR SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES

[SANTA CLAUS] A Santa at a neighborhood Christmas party. CO-STAR

When Jesse Metcalfe returned to Desperate Housewives Sunday, it wasn’t Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) he was after. It was Ana, Gaby’s 16-year-old niece. Sure, he just wants Ana to be the hostess in his restaurant, but the arrangement had a certain familiarity to it, all these many years after Metcalfe’s John Rowland was Gaby’s gardener — and underage lover.

Metcalfe promises the stakes will be raised this week between Ana, Gaby and John. “That love triangle is explored and the tension of that love triangle is heightened in the next episode,” says the 30-year-old actor. “There’s sort of a red herring there and a reveal as to what John’s intentions are, and that really reveals a lot about who John has become as a man.”

Metcalfe’s two-episode return is his first appearance since Housewives’ five-year time jump. He claims the passing of time has added exciting new dimensions to the character. “John Rowland was a very naive, wide-eyed boy … in a very complex, adult affair,” he says. “But now, coming back five years later, being 28, divorced, a restaurateur and a businessman, [he has] different motivations and a different thought process. [He is] slightly more manipulative, which makes him more interesting.”

Metcalfe reveals that Ana’s hostess job is short-lived, but remains optimistic that he’ll return to Wisteria Lane again. “The character is wide open to go in any direction and possibly be a stronger part of the show again, if Marc [Cherry] sees fit,” he says. “Like most Desperate Housewives episodes, there’s a little ambiguity at the end, so I don’t think the closure is definitive.”

Since leaving Housewives, Metcalfe has turned his attention to movies, with roles in 2006′s John Tucker Must Die and the recent release Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. But he still embraces his TV roots with open arms. “Every time there’s talk of me coming back [to Housewives], there’s really such an outpouring of support,” Metcalfe says. “It’s like coming home … Why wouldn’t I come back?”

Jeffrey Nordling is new to Desperate Housewives.

The actor, coming off a key role on season seven of 24, joins the cast of ABC hit this fall as the husband of Drea de Matteo’s character. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actor said his character – shocker! – has a secret that won’t be revealed right away.

“He is not from these parts,” Nordling said. “He doesn’t really belong [on Wisteria Lane]. There is a dark secret in their past, which you don’t quite figure out in the beginning. But something happened.”

Meanwhile, Andrea Bowen will return in September as Susan’s daughter Julie. Where has she been for the last couple years?

“Technically, I have been at Princeton and then graduate school. I come back with secrets of my own,” the actress said, teasing that Julie has romance in her future: “I think people will be surprised at who Julie ends up with.”