[This story contains major spoilers from the season premiere of Dexter: Original Sin.]
Dexter: Original Sin flashes again to a younger Dexter Morgan to move the torch from Michael C. Hall’s grizzled, fugitive serial killer in present-day to 1991’s wide-eyed forensics Miami Metro intern performed by Patrick Gibson.
Gibson seamlessly embodies the antihero viewers got here to intimately know throughout eight seasons of the hit Showtime sequence that concluded in 2013, adopted by a bonus 12 months with the 2021 restricted sequence New Blood. Now, Hall is an government producer on Original Sin, the place he continues to voice Dexter’s interior monologue all through the 10-episode season. With the premiere that launched on Friday, the Dexter franchise fairly actually roared again to life by resurrecting Dexter (performed in an onscreen look by Hall). That shock revelation succeeds in undoing the New Blood ending, the place creator Clyde Phillips had left Dexter bleeding within the snow and confirmed in interviews that Dexter was, in truth, lifeless.
With Dexter now once more among the many dwelling in Original Sin (which units up the following sequence within the Dexter canon, Resurrection, coming summer season 2025 and starring Hall), flipping again to Gibson’s tackle the character may increase the stakes even increased.
But Gibson and Hall’s connection was obvious from the very starting, which prompted Hall to offer the 29-year-old Ireland-born actor his blessing.
“I did the desk learn and bought to fulfill Michael for the primary time, and that was the primary time we went again to again with me saying a line and him doing the voiceover, and that was in all probability probably the most daunting second of this complete course of,” Gibson tells The Hollywood Reporter of his collaborative work with Hall. “After that, he emailed me and we mentioned the position. He was extremely beneficiant and really form. He was like, ‘I really feel like Dexter’s in good fingers’ and ‘that is yours now to have your iteration.’”
Gibson provides, “He shared some actually unbelievable insights into Dexter that illuminated some issues and questions that I had.”
Gibson says he didn’t meet with Hall till that first desk learn, as a result of he labored with Phillips, the unique Dexter showrunner who left after season 4, and government producer Michael Lehmann, who reunites along with his Heathers star Christian Slater in Original Sin, as Slater performs Dexter’s dad, a youthful Harry Morgan (who was performed by James Remar within the authentic). Sister Deb, initially performed by Jennifer Carpenter, is performed by Molly Brown.
“Anyone may see at that desk learn that it was actual magic,” provides Sarah Michelle Gellar, who joins a solid crammed with acquainted characters in a brand new position. “Paddy was sick and so he needed to be on Zoom. And Michael C. Hall was out of state, so he needed to be on Zoom. All of us are sitting on this room with this enormous TV with Michael and Paddy aspect by aspect, and it was so seamless. The intonations, the modulations. You would have thought they rehearsed for 9 years. It was then in that second that you simply say to your self, ‘Oh, this works.’”
Gellar makes her debut within the premiere of Original Sin when 20-year-old Dexter will get an internship on the Miami Metro murder places of work the place his father works as a detective, together with the 1990’s variations of Detective Angel Batista, forensic analyst Vince Masuka and Detective Maria LaGuerta (performed in Original Sin by James Martinez, Alex Shimizu and Christina Milian, respectively). Gellar’s character, Tanya Martin, is head of the division and mentor to younger intern Dexter. Patrick Dempsey additionally performs a brand new character as division captain.
Patrick Gibson as Dexter Morgan (with a haircut for his new internship) with Sarah Michelle Gellar as Miami Metro Homicide division head Tanya Martin.
Patrick Wymore/Paramount+ with Showtime.
If tasked with revisiting a youthful Gellar, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer icon says Dexter and James Bond have been all the time the 2 franchises she went on file saying she wished she starred in. Now, performing out a kind of pinch-me moments, Gellar says she and Gibson have a pivotal onscreen relationship because the sequence progresses, describing Tanya and Dexter in Star Wars phrases.
“She has numerous affect on Dexter,” she tells THR of Tanya. “Accidentally, she is absolutely the one educating him easy methods to be the unbelievable serial killer that you simply meet within the authentic present. And there’s numerous weight to that, as a result of she thinks she’s educating Anakin Skywalker, however actually, she’s educating Darth Vader.”
When talking to THR beforehand about casting Original Sin, Phillips mentioned all the ensemble have been his first casting decisions, and he spoke of the second he knew Gibson may embody a younger Dexter. “We have been [casting] tapes till we went blind, and [Paddy] simply popped out. I instantly introduced him into the studio, sat with him for about an hour. He seemed nice. He’s in nice form; he’s Michael C. Hall’s dimension. And he’s a giant fan of the present. We watched him work and we knew we had what we have been searching for. I’ve by no means been capable of say this earlier than in my profession: We bought all our first decisions,” he mentioned.
If all goes nicely, Phillips — who additionally defined why he and Hall determined to carry Dexter again to life after that fateful New Blood finale — says he plans for each Original Sin and the forthcoming Resurrection to run for a number of seasons. “The buzz is excellent and I’m hopeful,” he mentioned. Resurrection begins manufacturing in January and Original Sin releases new episodes weekly (Fridays on Paramount+ and Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on Showtime). Read THR‘s deep dive story on bringing Dexter again to life.
