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Dexter: New Blood showrunner Clyde Phillips recently spoke with website Screen Rant about the return of America's favorite fictional serial killer, the 2013 series finale, and the reunion with the cast. He also breaks down episode 1 "Cold Snap".
Screen Rant: You do something so wonderful in the first episode, where it's so noticeable that you're not getting Dexter's inner monologue. I'm almost through the episode. I'm like, “Oh, this is very weird to not know what Dexter is thinking and feeling the entire time.” And then it turns into this welcome back moment that had me literally pacing in front of the TV. I just loved that so much.
Clyde Phillips: Thank you, that was totally intentional and really difficult because we have this rhythm of writing the show where we can go to voiceover whenever we want, whenever we want it. And the voiceover gives us a couple of things: it makes the character accessible, vulnerable, it's also a great chance for humor. And to not have that as a tool in our toolbox, made it more challenging to write that first episode, but it's so worth the satisfaction of when he finally does talk and when 'tonight's the night' comes back, you know? "Hello, Dexter Morgan" and all of that comes back.
It's interesting when we're editing, which we do all day long because we have deadlines, I'll see a moment where I have an idea for some funny voiceover or some explanatory voiceover, whatever it is. I'll take out my iPhone. I'll record it. I could do his voice, I could do Lithgow's voice. "Now Clyde" [impression]. And I'll record it, send it to the editor. The editor will cut it into the picture, send it to Michael. And if Michael likes it, he'll record it. And that night, we'll have the picture with Michael's voice on it. It's just astonishing what we're able to accomplish.
What can you tell us about bringing John Lithgow back into the series? Because he was the fan-favorite, big bad of the show.
Clyde Phillips: He was. That season, season four. I'm just moving to a new apartment, so I'm unpacking stuff. And I came across this award that said, "Dexter Season Four is one of the top 100 seasons ever in television." But that includes All in the Family and Bochco stuff? I mean it's really intimidating to think about.
John [Lithgow] and I have remained friends through this whole time, our birthdays are a day apart, we talk to each other all the time. And so I called him up. And I said, "Do you want to come back and make an appearance?" And he said, "Yes, can it be in a month because I've got something else I'm committed to." And I said, "We're shooting for six months. So whatever day you want to come back, we'll make it happen."
And what happened was, we tried to keep stuff a secret and hiring John let out two secrets, cause you can't keep a secret these days. So somebody saw John on an airplane and a driver drove him to the stages in Massachusetts and somehow, word got out. So then John gets nominated for an Emmy for Perry Mason. And he's being questioned on a big Zoom publicity thing. And somebody says, "You were spotted in Massachusetts and Dexter shooting in Massachusetts. Did you go back?" And he said, "Well, yes, I did." And they said, "What was it like?" He said, "Oh. Oh my God, it was great to see Michael Hall. It was great to see Clyde Phillips. It was great to see Jennifer Carpenter." So there goes the Jennifer Carpenter secret.
So it was anywhere from "no comment" to "Yes, I'm in it. And so is Jennifer Carpenter."
You talked about Deb being the conscience, Why is she Dexter's conscience? We’ve seen Harry in that role in the past.
Clyde Phillips: Well, Harry wasn't really his conscience. He was his guide. And we've actually brought up in this season, you know, what Harry did, some could consider child abuse; I mean, that he should have been institutionalized at 15. He's a psychopath. This is fiction. This is art with a small a, but this is also about a serial killer. And people shouldn't be serial killers. What Deb does, early on in the first run of the season, Dexter's commenting on Deb in voiceover and saying, "My sister Deb, if I were capable of love, she would be the one I love." And that played out through the years.
When we got her and when she was on the set, everybody was elevated. Michael was happy, the crew was happy. She was out of her mind in the best possible way. She's such a good actress and trying all sorts of different things which would make Michael try different things. They just come up with this wonderful stuff. And she, as you saw in the show, she's really powerful. And really, they have this great comfort level with each other.
Just that first scene when we meet her and she puts her arm down on the table, and Dexter's eating his cereal. And again, that's that monastic life that he has. Here's a guy that was used to eating ham and now he's eating granola. It's all these little subtle things about how much his life has changed or how much he's trying to change his own life since we last saw him.
I want to ask, is the plan just to do one season? Are we going to get a definitive ending at the end of these episodes?
Clyde Phillips: Well, I can't talk about the ending. All I can say is, on this show, we never say never. Had I gotten my wish in season 8, had they ended it the way I wanted to, we wouldn't be talking to each other right now. So, anything's possible. But the ending will be, as I said at Comic-Con, "surprising," "inevitable," and "will blow up the internet."
Hit the play button below for the full interview: