Dexter Slays PaleyFest
FEARnet favorite Dexter made its second appearance at the annual PaleyFest in Los Angeles. PaleyFest, hosted by the Paley Center for Media Studies, gathers the cast and crew of some of the best and brightest TV shows, and allows fans to enjoy a Q&A panel without the fan boy surroundings of a comic book convention.
Thursday night’s panel was hosted by E!’s Kristin Dos Santos, who herself is a bit of a Dexter fangirl. First and foremost on everyone’s minds was Rita’s untimely demise in the season finale. Actress Julie Benz seemed a little “talked out” on the subject, but she did admit her first thought upon reading the script was, “I just lost my job. I have a mortgage to pay!” When the shock wore off, Benz was pleased. “It’s aggressive storytelling. It’s something you wouldn’t get on a network show. But this is Showtime - it’s what you pay for!” Producer Sara Colleton agreed: “It just felt right. If a death was ever ‘earned,’ this was it.” There were no “alternate endings” considered.
Everyone was frustratingly tight-lipped about season five, which the writers are starting to plot out. Exiting creator and executive producer Clyde Phillips will not have any say in upcoming story lines. Colleton does promise one thing: “There will be no time jump. When season five begins, Dexter will still be processing Rita’s death, allowing the audience to grieve with him. Rita’s death needs to be honored.” Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall, is anxious to play the newly single dad next season. “Dexter has never had tragedy thrust upon him like this. It is fun to find ways to express his cluelessness. Dexter’s cluelessness sets him up for comedy.” Therefore Dexter’s tragedy will set us up for stress-relieving humor.
“Each season is about Dexter trying to have it all,” producer John Goldwyn explains, whether it be a career, a love life, or a family life. “Next season Dexter will have to ask, ‘Can I be a father?’ and the audience will get to watch him work it out.”
Season four’s “big bad,” John Lithgow, was not at the panel, but he received high praise from fellow cast members. Hall describes acting with him as “delicious:” “The darker an episode got, the more hysterical with laughter we got [between takes]. John’s excitement was infectious. The morning we showed up to shoot the season finale, he told me he had been too excited to sleep.” Brando Eaton, who played Jonah Mitchell, had nothing but nice things to say about his abusive screen father: “It was so weird. He is so nice in real life, but then he would get so creepy. It was scary!” Despite Lithgow’s glowing review and sterling reputation, Colleton says that there was never a plan to extend Lithgow’s Trinity Killer into season five. “His character served out his purpose this season.” No sense in dragging out a story line simply because Lithgow’s Trinity was one of the most awesome villains on television.
The subject of Hall’s health came up, naturally. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year, and has been undergoing treatments. Hall has one final treatment in mid-March, and says he “feels great.”
