The beloved YouTube series is back for yet another week, and in Episode 4, the actors behind Rita Morgan and James Doakes take center stage.
For a fourth consecutive week, and with Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 set to debut this fall, Dexter’s Kill Room Season 3 is back with another pair of very special guests: Julie Benz and Erik King.
The two actors, who played Rita Morgan and James Doakes during the first half of the original Dexter series, sat down together to watch and revisit some of the most memorable scenes involving their characters.
And we gotta say, their reactions and commentary were very interesting, as both actors shared some fascinating behind-the-scenes insights and memories from their time on the show.
But it wasn’t just the scenes themselves that made this episode of Dexter’s Kill Room so entertaining.
Julie Benz and Erik King Had Everyone Laughing Behind the Cameras
As Benz and King discussed the episodes and scenes together, their conversations often became just as entertaining as the footage they were watching. In fact, some of their exchanges caused plenty of laughter from the people behind the cameras, with some of those laughs even being audible in the finished episode!
The 23-minute episode takes the two actors on a trip through some of their most memorable moments on Dexter. Their rewatch actually begins with the original pilot, which premiered nearly 20 years ago, before eventually reaching Season 5, Episode 1, the final episode Julie Benz ever appeared in as Rita.
In between, however, they revisit some important moments from the series.
One of them is the famous Season 2, Episode 7 scene featuring Dexter and Doakes’ unforgettable “I own you” confrontation. The scene sees Dexter headbutt Doakes, setting off a chaotic aftermath at Miami Metro.
The rewatch then moves to the episode where Doakes finally confirms that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher, followed by the scenes in which Doakes is trapped at the cabin. Of course, those moments ultimately lead to the explosion caused by Lila, which brought Doakes’ story to its tragic end.
Erik King Reveals His Favorite Doakes Scenes
Interestingly, Erik King revealed that the scenes involving Doakes being locked up by Dexter at the cabin are among his favorites from the entire series.
The reason has less to do with the action and more to do with the conversations between Dexter and Doakes. King explained that the scenes gave the two characters an opportunity to really go back and forth with each other, making their rivalry even more interesting.
Julie Benz also took a trip down memory lane while watching the original Dexter pilot.
Looking back at the script, Benz recalled that she immediately felt the show was something special, even before she had officially landed the role of Rita.
She explained that, when she first read the pilot, she thought it was exactly the kind of television she personally wanted to watch. The moral gray area at the heart of Dexter was a big part of what actually attracted her to the series, particularly because the show didn’t simply give viewers easy answers. Instead, it made them think about what they were watching and decide for themselves how they felt about Dexter and his actions.
Benz also remembered discussing the pilot with Michael C. Hall while they were filming it. She told him that she was convinced the show would be picked up and run for years because, in her view, it was the kind of series she would want to watch herself.
Nearly 20 years later, it is actually safe to say her prediction turned out to be pretty accurate.
Two Main Actors That Never Met on Screen
One of the most interesting aspects of this episode is that Julie Benz and Erik King never actually had the opportunity to share a scene together during Dexter. Rita and Doakes were both significant main characters during the early seasons, but the two characters never crossed paths in a scene that made it into the series.
That makes their appearance together on Dexter’s Kill Room even more fun and itneresting to watch.
Despite never having worked together on screen, Benz and King appeared to have great chemistry throughout the episode, constantly joking around and sharing funny moments as they revisited the show's early years.
Watch Season 3, Episode 4 of Dexter’s Kill Room below: