The actor attended the Dexter: Resurrection FYC panel, where he reflected on becoming the first killer to avoid Dexter’s kill table... at least for now.
If we go back to the original series, Dexter Morgan managed to take down dozens of antagonists one way or another. But the latest installment, Dexter: Resurrection did something the franchise had never done before. For the first time, a specific target got away, and that was Al Walker.
The silver lining for Dexter, of course, is that while Al witnessed Dexter essentially confessing to being a serial killer in front of everyone at Prater’s dinner party, he still doesn’t know that this man was actually Dexter Morgan, the real Bay Harbor Butcher, but Ronald Schmidt. That alone makes Al’s escape far less dangerous for Dexter than it could have been.
During the FYC (For Your Consideration) panel held in New York City on Thursday, May 14, Eric Stonestreet was among the five Dexter: Resurrection cast members invited for the Q&A. He was directly asked about Al Walker becoming the one and only villain in Dexter history, who managed to evade Dexter Morgan.
While Stonestreet obviously couldn’t reveal whether he’s returning or not, he did talk about how exciting it was to play a character who did not end up on Dexter’s table. According to the actor, that was actually one of the (many) reasons he accepted the role in the first place.
More specifically, Stonestreet explained that one of the things that immediately excited him about the role was learning that Al (Rapunzel) would ultimately get away, something that instantly made him wonder about the character’s future.
He also revealed that he asked on set how many characters had ever escaped Dexter Morgan before, only to find out that the number was zero, which made this whole thing even more special to him. The actor added that he enjoyed reading hte online debates from fans discussing whether Al truly outsmarted Dexter and what the writers’ real intentions were, saying he prefers to leave those... interpretations open to the audience.
Even though things unfolded the way they did with Al, Dexter still holds valuable information about him. Not only from their personal interactions, but also from Leon Prater’s serial killer archive and the specific file Dexter took from the vault in the Season 1 finale.
So while Al may have escaped New York City and unknowingly avoided Dexter’s fully prepared kill room inside the wig store, his story still gives the impression that is far from over.
Another thing Stonestreet discussed during the panel was a funny behind-the-scenes moment from Episode 104, “Call Me Red,” the episode that introduced Al Walker. During a lighthearted part of the discussion, the actor took the opportunity to share a spontaneous moment he had with Michael C. Hall while filming their first scene together.
“I hugged Michael in our first take, and I didn’t even think about not doing it. All of a sudden I see him and I’m like, ‘Get in here!’ Afterwards, Scott [Reynolds] was like, ‘Do that every time.’”
At this point, it is somewhat surprising that Stonestreet’s return hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, especially since production has already been underway for about a month. Still, there’s probably no reason to worry about it.
His involvement in Season 1 was actually announced once he had already started filming (months after production officially kicked off), so it’s likely the same approach is happening again. If Al Walker is returning, the announcement will probably come around the time his next episode begins filming.