Summary
There was exciting news for fans ofDexterthis week, with Showtime announcing thatthe show had cast the three lead roles in the new spin-off prequel series,Dexter: Original Sin. Patrick Gibson will play Dexter Morgan, with Christian Slater cast as Harry Morgan, while Molly Brown has signed on to portray potty-mouthed Debra Morgan.
TheDexter prequelwas initially announced in February 2023, andit will consist of ten episodes, with a release date not yet announced.The original showrunner and executive producer, Clyde Phillips, will once again take on the reins of the new show, while Scott Reynolds, Tony Hernandez, Mary Leah Sutton and Lilly Burns will also serve as executive producers. Michael Lehmann will be a director on the show as well as acting as an executive producer.
Who has signed on to star in Dexter: Original Sin?
Patrick Gibson
Patrick Gibson is an up-and-coming Irish actor who was born in London in 1995.Gibson is best known for playing Nikolai Lantsov in the Netflix fantasy seriesShadow and Bone,but he’s also starred inThe OAand the British detective thriller,Before We Die. In 2017, Gibson won the Rising Star award at the Irish Film and Television Awards.
Gibson will take on the role ofDexter Morgan, who was originally played by Michael C. Hall inDexterandDexter: New Blood. Gibson will be playing the serial killer before the events ofDexter, and it’s a role that will likely propel him to the A-list in Hollywood, but he has big shoes to fill, with the iconic role very much belonging to Hall.
Christian Slater
James Remar played Harry Morgan in the originalDexterseries between 2006 and 2013, in a mixture of flashback scenes and dream sequences, as the character was dead before the start of the show.Christian Slater will play Harry Morgan inDexter: Original Sin, and it’ll be interesting to see what direction he takes the character in, as his portrayal of Dexter and Debra’s detective father will be very much alive during the events ofDexter: Original Sin.
Christian Slater is a Hollywood legend, with iconic roles in 90s movies likeVery Bad Things,Broken Arrow,Interview With The Vampireand the Quentin Tarantino penned,True Romance. He first came to prominence in the classic 80s teen drama,Heathers, playing Jason ‘J.D’ Dean.Slater will reunite with the director of that movie, Michael Lehmann forDexter: Original Sin.In recent years, Slater has been better known for his roles on television in recent years, playing Dr Randall Kirby in the first season ofDr Death, and he currently stars inThe Spiderwick Chroniclesas Dr Dorian Brauer.
Molly Brown
Molly Brown has made a string of guest appearances on television shows likeBillions, Evil, The Marvelous Mrs. MaiselandLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit.On the big screen, she is probably best known for her role in the comedy,Senior Yearin 2022.
Brown will take on the iconic role of Debra Morgan inDexter: Original Sin, which will likely be her breakthrough acting gig.Debra Morgan was played by Jennifer Carpenter in the originalDexterseries, and she played the character again as a figment of her brother’s imagination inDexter: New Blood, after Debra died at the end of the final season ofDexterin 2013.
What will Dexter: Original Sin be about?
Dexter: Original Sinwill take place in 1991, fifteen years before the events ofDexter.The official logline forDexter: Original Sinstates that the prequel series:
follows Dexter (Gibson) as he transitions from student to avenging serial killer. When his bloodthirsty urges can’t be ignored any longer, Dexter must learn to channel his inner darkness. With the guidance of his father, Harry (Slater), he adopts a Code designed to help him find and kill people who deserve to be eliminated from society without getting on law enforcement’s radar. This is a particular challenge for young Dexter as he begins a forensics internship at the Miami Metro Police Department.
The originalDexterseries did feature some intriguing flashback sequences to the early days of the serial killer with a code, proving there are plenty of stories to explore about this iconic character as he becomes a full-fledged killer. It will also be a good opportunity to explore the character of Dexter’s adoptive father, Harry Morgan, as he balances his job as a detective in the Miami Metro Police Department, with the complexities of his adopted son’s murderous urges as he forms the ‘code’ which became such a vital part of the original show.
It seems a good point forDexter’s prequel seriesto begin with the serial killer’s entry into the forensics department of Miami Metro as an intern, while he earmarks victims for his legendary kill table.It remains unclear from the official logline for the prequel series, as to what Debra Morgan will be doing during this timeline, but it will likely see her catch the bug for police work and join Miami Metro as well.Other characters, such as Tom Matthews, who was a trusted ally to Harry Morgan in the department, will likely appear in the upcoming series, and maybe the spin-off series will chart the origins of Dexter’s disturbed lab partner, Vince Massuka, as he perfected his famous filthy laugh.
