David Zayas Jr. is the spitting image of his father, David Zayas!
On May 23rd, after 15 months of waiting, Showtime and Paramount+ finally revealed some new information about the forthcoming Dexter prequel titled "Dexter: Original Sin". The network released three short teasers, each revealing one of the first three cast members of the new show, which will be set in 1991, fifteen years before the events of the main series. Patrick Gibson has been cast as Dexter Morgan, Molly Brown as Deborah, and Patrick Slater as their father Harry. But what about the rest of the cast?
If you're a big fan of Dexter and its cast, then you probably know that David Zayas has a son in his 30s who looks remarkably like him. His name is David Zayas Jr., and he's a director, actor, photographer, producer and videographer.
Fun fact: David Zayas Jr. was part of the original Dexter series that spanned from 2006 to 2013, and he actually replaced his father in some scenes during the final seasons of the show. One of these instances was in Season 8, when it wasn't necessary to have him speaking or featured on-screen; Angel Batista was played by his son, David Zayas Jr.
When David Zayas Jr. was dressed up just like Angel Batista, it became almost impossible to distinguish that Batista wasn't portrayed by his father when the shots were from afar. Thus, some scenes in which Angel Batista is featured in the background weren't played by David Zayas but by his son as a look-alike substitute.
Back in the day, Showtime made a short behind-the-scenes featurette about it, which you can watch right below:
With the rest of the casting announcements on the way, do you think it's possible for Showtime to pick David Zayas' son to portray a 30-year-old Angel Batista? The resemblance between father and son is uncanny, Zayas Jr. was part of the original series, and there's definitely no better mentor for the younger version of the character than his own father. Soon, we'll know more about the rest of the new cast, and hopefully, we'll see David Zayas Jr. included in the list.