She wanted a role in Dexter: Original Sin, but ended up starring in Resurrection instead.
As 2025 nears its end, it’s safe to say this has been a remarkable year for Dexter fans. For the first time in the franchise’s history, two different Dexter shows (Dexter: Original Sin and Dexter: Resurrection) aired new episodes in the same year,
Both of them earned praise, but it was Resurrection that actually captured us more. While having Michael C. Hall back as Dexter Morgan was a major factor, the series’ amazing scripts, fresh new characters and location played an equally powerful role in its success.
Interestingly, while Original Sin was wrapping production on its first (and, unfortunately, only) season in November 2024, the Resurrection team was already deep into looking for actors for the sequel series. One casting story, in particular, stands out, and it seems like it all started with a casual phone call.
Executive producer and co-showrunner Scott Reynolds was chatting with longtime friend Krysten Ritter about restaurant recommendations in Los Angeles when hte conversation unexpectedly turned to work.
Ritter, known as a fan of the original Dexter series since its very beginning, revealed she had actually wanted a role for Dexter: Original Sin but it was too late, as filming was already coming to a close.
“Scott and I were texting about restaurants in Pasadena,” Ritter recalled during her appearance at L.A. Comic Con. “I asked what he was working on, and he said Original Sin. I said, ‘Oh, is there anything for me on that? It shoots near my house!’ But they were already wrapping. Then he said, ‘Would you be interested in Dexter: Resurrection?’ And I was like, absolutely! Soon after, he wrote me this incredible role and told me, ‘Ritter, I wrote this for you.’ I read it and thought, oh my God, it just kept getting better every scene. It was like candy.”
The role Reynolds created for her became Mia Lapierre, also known as Lady Vengeance, an attractive sommelier with a killer secret. Though Ritter only appeared in three-ish episodes of Resurrection Season 1, her performance and role left a big imprssion, and there are speculations that Mia’s story is far from over.
For Ritter, joining Resurrection defniitely felt like a full circle moment, as not only did it reunite her with Reynolds, who worked with her on Jessica Jones (2015-2019), but it also gave her a chance to finally be part of something she’d admired for years.
Interestingly, this was not the first time she came close to joining Dexter. Back in the 2000s, she was offered a small role in an early episode directed by Tony Goldwyn, but she turned it down in favor of a bigger opportunity on Gilmore Girls.
It’s clear that everything aligned perfectly this time. While she missed the chance to appear in Original Sin, Ritter’s turn as Lady Vengeance in Dexter: Resurrection was the ideal thing for her. And if the teases are any indication, we might not have seen the last of Mia Lapierre.