Jack Alcott, star of Dexter: New Blood, recalls the emotional last day of filming the new miniseries. Dexter: New Blood continues the story of Dexter on Showtime, running for ten episodes and airing on Sundays. The show features the return of series stars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter as the titular Dexter and his sister Debra.
Dexter follows Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter analyzer and serial killer, using his job as a front to find victims. Dexter: New Blood follows the character ten years after the finale of the main series, where Dexter faked his death and eventually moved to upstate New York, having repressed his serial killer instincts. This is complicated with his grown-up son Harrison, played by Alcott, coming back into Dexter's life, having been abandoned in the series finale.
Alcott recalls in an interview with THR the final day of shooting with Hall. Since all ten episodes of the miniseries were shot at once, the final scene filmed ended up being from the first episode, where Dexter confirms that he's Harrison's father. Alcott talks about the emotional toll of playing a character at all points in his arc in quick succession, citing difficulty in maintaining the emotions needed for all parts of the character's story. Read Alcott's full quote below:
I don’t think there’s a better scene that we could have ended on. That day was unbelievable. It was a full shoot day, and I was just at the tail end of it in this really, really quick scene. Michael and I gave each other gifts and notes to read. Then we went to do the scene and a couple of the other actors showed up to watch, which was really sweet. We did the scene a couple of times. It’s such a great scene. It’s so simple. There is so much said without words. We did masters. We did my coverage. It was all wonderful. We are finishing on Michael and we do a couple. We do what feels like the last time. Michael is like, “Love you man.” I’m like, “Love you too man.” And we do one more and we sort of sit there. We cut. There’s this long silence. I’m not really sure what is happening. I feel frozen. And [director] Marcos Siega yells out, “Alright guys, one more for y’all. I’ve got what I want. Action.” And it just all hit me. Instantly I’m holding back tears because this is the last time I get to have this relationship and this moment with Michael. He will always be my friend, I love him very much. But this was the ending of a story for me. And I was just so overwhelmed with emotion and I sort of don’t really look at him for awhile in the scene and by the time he says that Miami line, I look at him and there’s already tears streaming down my face and I just smiled at him really big. And he sort of struggled through the end of his scene and they cut. And we just hugged really hard. It was a wonderful, wonderful moment.
Dexter: New Blood has already been cited as a return to form by fans and critics. Many agree that the show's quality went down after the departure of showrunner Clyde Phillips, who returned to write New Blood. The new series will also feature an appearance from John Lithgow, reprising his role as the Trinity Killer from the fourth season of Dexter, an Emmy-winning performance that many fans cite as the show's best villain. Phillips departed the show after the fourth season, partially contributing to the lackluster response of later seasons.
Though it's currently unknown whether Dexter: New Blood will stick the landing this time around, it's nice to see the original head writer and star united to right the wrongs of the contentious series finale. Most revivals these days only exist as nostalgia bait. Still, with Dexter: New Blood, it genuinely feels the people behind it are coming together to take control over a narrative that left so many fans feeling cold and unsatisfied. With Harrison taking a central role in the story, Dexter: New Blood will undoubtedly continue captivating audiences until January's finale.
Source: THR