Posted in: Preview, Showtime, Trailer, TV | Tagged: deborah morgan, dexter, Jennifer Carpenter, michael c. hall, new blood, preview, showtime

Dexter: Jennifer Carpenter Discusses Deb's New Dark Passenger Role

For all of the Dexter fans out there who are waiting patiently for showrunner & writer Clyde Phillips and series star/EP Michael C. Hall's Dexter: New Blood, this week's Television Critics Association press tour proved to be a wave of good news. First, Showtime entertainment president Gary Levine admitted that the cable network didn't do right by the series as it wrapped up its original run. Then they got their first look at Jack Alcott (The Good Lord Bird), originally announced as "Randall" but we now know he's playing Dexter's son, Harrison. But it didn't stop there, with Jennifer Carpenter's Deborah Morgan confirmed to be her brother's Dark Passenger.

"I love the concept of the Dark Passenger and being invited into Dexter's psyche. I feel like sometimes the Dark Passenger and the passenger is almost directly behind the wheel and it was an opportunity not to be an angel or devil on his shoulder, but to jerk the wheel to the left or right against his will," Carpenter explained during the event. "And to manipulate him, to navigate him, to abuse him, to save him. I felt like it was something entirely different than some sort of ghost entity." Hall sees a clear difference between Deb's influence and Dexter's previous Dark Passenger, his deceased father, Harry (James Remar). "Harry was like Dexter's north star in his consistent point of view, whereas Deb, in the context of this world, coming from everywhere. In that, she's an internalized character for Dexter that represents just how far he's come or how far he's fallen— internally reeling and without a compass in a sense as much as he'd like to have one," Hall revealed.

As Phillips sees it, Deb will be serving a much larger role than just as Dexter's constant companion. "She represents a corner of Dexter's mind that we all have in our own heads that says, 'Well, wait a minute, if you do this, then there are consequences,'" Phillips explained.  "If you notice at the very beginning of the show when we introduce Deb, it's very quiet and it's very still. They're talking about how he is the one who chose that place. They're sitting at the table and Deb has her head down and Dexter almost touches it but he can't because she's a part of him."

Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, Carnivàle), Julia Jones (The Mandalorian), Alano Miller (Sylvie's Love), Johnny Sequoyah (Believe), Jack Alcott (The Good Lord Bird), Michael Cyril Creighton (Game Night, Dash & Lily), David Magidoff (The Morning Show), Jamie Chung (Lovecraft Country), and Oscar Wahlberg (Manchester By the Sea) will be joining Hall for the series' return. Original series star Jennifer Carpenter will be returning to the role of Debra Morgan, while John Lithgow returns to his Emmy Award-winning role as Season 4's "Trinity Killer" Arthur Mitchell. Showrunner & writer Clyde Phillips, Hall, John Goldwyn, Sara Colleton, Bill Carraro, and Scott Reynolds executive produce. Marcos Siega executive produces as well as directs six episodes of the season.

Jones' Angela Bishop is the first Native American Chief of Police in her town in upstate New York, while Sequoyah's Audrey is Bishop's brash and opinionated teenage daughter. Miller's Logan is a sergeant for the Iron Lake Police Department and the assistant wrestling coach for the local high school, while Dexter has a "meaningful encounter" with Alcott's "Randall". The four actors join Brown, who portrays Kurt Caldwell. Born and raised in the town of Iron Lake, he's realized the American dream by going from driving big rigs, just like his father did, to now owning several trucks and the local truck stop. Powerful, generous, loved by everyone – he's a true man of the people. If he's got your back, consider yourself blessed. But should you cross Kurt, or hurt anyone that he cares for… God help you.

Creighton's Fred Jr. is the congenial owner of Fred's Fish & Game, a shop he inherited from his father. He has grown up in Iron Lake and is a regular fixture around town that everybody knows and loves, whether it's line dancing at the local tavern or singing in the choir. He's married to Brian, the pastor of the town's small church. Magidoff's Teddy is the "new guy" who's only been a cop in Iron Lake for 2-1/2 weeks. Good-natured, quirky, hardworking, eager to please; and a little scared of his boss, Police Chief Bishop. Chung's Molly is a famous true-crime podcaster from Los Angeles while Wahlberg's Zach is the captain of the Iron Lake High School wrestling team. A bit of a bully but generally the go-to guy to have a good time, Zach is the gateway to the in-crowd- which includes the daughter of the chief of police.

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