Dexter: Original Sin actor Patrick Gibson sat down with SocioLayers.com to discuss the entirety of the first season of the prequel series. Dexter is a show that is held highly among its fans and has only continued to add new fans since its debut almost 20 years ago. The serial killer drama ran for just eight seasons from 2006 – 2013 before getting a 10 episode revival in 2021, but fans have remained incredibly feverish the entire time. Thanks to streaming, Dexter has managed to stay relevant and attract new generations of fans who were maybe too young to watch the show when it first came out.
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Naturally, this made it a lucrative series to turn into a larger franchise for Showtime. After the ending of Dexter: New Blood, Showtime looked to find ways to keep the ball rolling and came up with a new prequel series called Dexter: Original Sin that’s loaded with Easter eggs. The show takes place 15 years prior to the first episode of the original show which means we get to see an inexperienced Dexter Morgan shed his first blood and learn the ropes of being a serial killer vigilante.
As a result, 54-year-old Michael C. Hall was no longer a good fit for the role and would instead serve as narrator while actor Patrick Gibson would fill the shoes of a young, awkward Dexter Morgan who hasn’t had his first kill, let alone his first kiss. SocioLayers.com sat down with Gibson for a 20 minute interview where we discussed the finale, wants and wishes for potential future seasons of Dexter: Original Sin, and the moral quandary of being a serial killer of serial killers.
Spoilers for Dexter: Original Sin season one are contained in the interview below. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
I want to take you back kind of to the beginning of this entire journey and talk about the reaction you saw to your casting, because people are very protective over Dexter and Michael C. Hall has a lot of ownership over that role. What did you see online at that time?
It wasn’t anything I wasn’t expecting, I guess. Even when I saw the audition, I was like, ‘Really? We’re going to remake this?’ I was so aware of how beloved it was and I loved the show and I loved what he did. I did a self tape and then a few auditions and it kind of took like meeting Clyde, Michael, and the director for me to feel like this is the right thing to do. You know, like I didn’t go into it lightly and it felt like once I met them a couple of times, we were definitely exploring different angles of how to play him younger as well.
Once I got to see more of the writing and just how much it had the Dexter DNA on the page, it definitely gave me more confidence to go into it and to take it on and was a big part of why I kind of decided to do it. But yeah, I wasn’t surprised.
I’ve played a character before that’s based on books and that, even more, because it’s like that character lived in people’s heads. So, yeah, I think I’d probably be one of the people saying it, too, if it wasn’t me. So, I totally get it. After that, though, it’s like you kind of got to shut out the noise. I don’t read stuff online and [I try to] inhabit the thing and not think about the risk or the reaction too much, because I think that could be terrifying.
I think you’ve earned the trust of everybody in this first season, which is really nice. As someone who has obsessively watched and studied Dexter, I know a lot of the Dexter-isms. One thing I was really happy to see that you kind of inserted in there is the finger point where he presses his finger against people’s foreheads as a way of control. Was that a conscious decision?
I spoke about that with Clyde [Phillips, the showrunner], for sure. It was actually initially going to be there, I think, with Handsome Tony, maybe. A lot of those things you see him slowly start to do them because we see his first kill and stuff. It was really fun talking to Clyde and Scott [Reynolds, producer and writer] about how soon is this thing that we know going to happen? I always love how he like enters and leaves a doorway. That seems like something he’s just always done, maybe.
It was really fun to kind of weave those things in and see how they progress as well as it goes on. Season one was my reference point, because that’s the closest link we have to him now. I think if we were to continue, it would be also a case of looking at those later seasons because he evolved, like everyone does. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do that if we can.
It’s interesting the way you say he’s evolved, because I was thinking about it earlier. If this Dexter went up against the Trinity Killer, he’d probably just kill him. Because he doesn’t have anything to learn. He’s not concerned about the family dynamics or whatever. The crisis of it all would not be a thing.
It’s so true. It’s so interesting that he’s gotta get the lesson from them. And they are valuable right up until the point when he has that. That’s such an interesting point. What would he have to learn from Trinity right there? Because Spencer has a lot to teach him, he inadvertently teaches him that he may not be born this way. He planted that seed like Dexter doesn’t know it yet. Harry makes sure to stomp out that idea pretty fast, but it at least opens his eyes to the idea that some people are created monsters.
Is there a juggling act of balancing hero versus psychopath slash serial killer? Because watching the last episode, seeing Dexter kind of charge into that boat and try to save this kid, it feels very heroic. But obviously, we know deep down, Dexter is a serial killer, and he kills a lot of people and will later cause a lot of problems for a lot of people.
I think the character is juggling that and certain things are surprising himself, like the power that a child being killed has over him. We as the viewer see what happened to him as a kid, so you can kind of infer that there’s some traumatic connection to that, that is the one thing that actually makes him feel. And kind of ironically, like the reason why he doesn’t feel as well, because to maybe feel anything in those moments, after that, would mean that he couldn’t exist in the world, so his psychopathy is also like a protective veil for him. I think when stuff like what happens on the boat happens, it’s hugely confusing for him and his identity.
We see him flip flop between those things for the rest of the show. I love the moment when he’s going to tell Deborah that he’s the Bay Harbor Butcher, that feels like there’s this kind of almost human thing coming in where he’s feeling this remorse or at least like, the gig is up, and he’s got to just face who he is. And then he’s kind of like, ‘Fuck it, you know what, not doing that! Double down! Some people are good. Some people are like me, and I’m just me!’ And he owns who he is.
That’s almost where he’s at at the end of this season. He tells Harry ‘I was born this way.’ And it makes life easier from there on, because he’s like, ‘You know what, like, this is who I am, now I can go out and kill and I have no remorse about it.’ And there’s something either heroic or not about that. The moral quandary for him is gone in that moment and it’s almost like a superpower. He’s not gonna feel anything. He’s not like other people.
There’s an interesting line in Dexter: New Blood where Deb tells Dexter what Harry did was child abuse, which is a really interesting way of framing it. In this season, we see what happened to Brian when he just gets put into the system and how that failed him. And then we see how Dexter was failed by Harry’s coaching. They’re both kind of doomed.
Yeah! I go back and forth all the time on if Harry is right in what he’s doing? If Harry just tried a little harder to make his son not be a serial killer, would it work? I think once Harry makes that decision, he just goes hell for leather with him. And Harry’s got a lot of his own baggage and own reasons for needing justice in the world. It kind of feels like he’s, as some parents do, putting that all on his son. Would he be like that without that pressure? It’s honestly hard to say.
I think Harry gets let off the hook quite a lot but he’s like the most complicated character in my eyes. I really love the like, early in the season, you get to see that a little bit when Dexter’s like ‘I fed her to a batch of hungry gators. Alright, night dad!’ And then Harry is left with that. He’s like, ‘What the fuck have I done?’ I guess we see Harry’s conscience throughout it and the horrible decisions he makes in the past. But I also kind of understand him, I feel bad for him.
Yeah, because he has that trauma that we learned about in the show with his original son that we didn’t know about in the original show. I get the sense that he is protecting himself from losing another son, right?
Yeah, that’s great. It’s so true as well, like how hard he’ll fight. There’s so many layers to that relationship. I also find it really interesting how much warmth Christian [Slater] brings to that role as well, which makes it more confusing because it would be very easy to kind of play it a little more straight and play his behavior with his demeanor. And I think the fact that his demeanor is kind of warm, and when he’s not telling Dexter off, which is quite often, is really lovable.
I know you said you tried to read much online, but did you see any interesting fan theories while the show was going on?
I did see this stuff about Brian and that’s mainly because people would comment or send me a message. Other than that, like, not a huge amount.
Well, it’s funny you say that because people looked at your following list on Instagram and saw that you follow the actor that plays Brian, and like all the cast follows him. So people were like, ‘It must be him. Why would they follow a random extra?’
Oh my god, that’s some good digging! That’s pretty impressive. Because I probably would have [followed him before], Roby’s a friend of my best friend in London. So, I think I’d maybe already followed him, that’s interesting.
The one downside of the show is that we won’t get to see you probably interact with Brian directly outside of that thing. Because they don’t meet until the original show.
Yeah, I know! That’s something interesting. I’m curious to see what happens, if Brian just goes away? Or if we see what he’s doing? Like, I have no idea. But yeah, it’s a shame because Roby is so great so to not get to act opposite him is a shame.
What Dexter trademarks are you most excited to introduce like the Henley, the cheek cutting your own boat, the blood slides?
Honestly, all of the above, I am really interested to see all of those things, and just the events that lead him to be so close to people in Miami Metro. I’m curious what happens with LaGuerta because she seems to have a thing for Dexter in the beginning of season one, and they kind of drop it [laughs]. Yeah, what’s gonna happen there? I think the blood slides, the cheek cutting.
I want to see some more kill room outfits, I really loved in the pilot when he wears the Saran wrap around his head. In the first kill, he kills a child killer and he actually, instead of just showing the pictures, he digs up their bodies, like stuff like that. Just like him getting more creative and more confident in the kill rooms. I love when he tries to get some marriage counseling from the happy couple that are killing together.
Obviously when Dexter in the original show is taking people down, there’s not a lot of fighting because he’s very already got it down. There’s more scrappiness to this. Do you do any training for this?
There’s a lot. Shauna [Duggins], our stunt coordinator, who’s just a complete legend. There’s usually a stunt rehearsal on a day off, a few days before and work stuff out and they’re always really interesting. She’s very character driven, a lot of the fights, we’ll kind of look at and then we’ll like find ways to get character stuff in there. They’re pretty heavily choreographed, shout out to my stunt double as well, Charlie [Thornton-White], who is a complete legend. Those guys were amazing and some of the fights were pretty, pretty gnarly, like we got into it.
What do you think about the idea of going up against Dokes? One of the disappointing things about the original show is you have to get rid of Dokes pretty early. You just can’t keep him around and that rivalry was always fascinating.
He’s so good! I know. I’m so curious to see what their relationship looked like at the beginning and what happened. Why does Dokes hate him so much and suspect him so much? That scene where Dexter headbutts him will always be like one of the craziest moments and then he pretends like he’s all weak. Maybe they loved each other when they first met and then something happened, like got betrayed by Dexter or Dexter had to betray him for some reason.
I think it’s like a testament to Clyde’s writing that he managed to write a show that felt like life had already existed before in such a rich way. They feel like they all have these rich histories together and yet we have no idea how they got there. There’s so many gaps to fill in. It feels like there’s a jumping off point, the original is such a great fertile ground to have a prequel.
It is interesting, the way you kind of describe that. Dexter fucks a lot of people over it with blood reports, like constantly. He is good at his job because he knows how to do it wrong. But also really bad at it because he’s screwing everyone over.
I know and that’s what comes back to haunt him. So it’ll be interesting to see the first few times when he tries to take those risks that are a little bigger than he should. I think what’s also really cool is like, he has, in our version, the license to make mistakes, because he’s inexperienced. I’d be curious to see whether he uses that to his advantage, this kind of like, dumb intern thing. Because that is a role like Dexter’s already probably smarter than everyone in that or at least he thinks he is. So, he has that cover and I’m sure it will be used at some point.
You’re gonna be passing the baton back to Michael for Dexter: Resurrection. What was it like learning that the show would open with Michael C. Hall’s Dexter coming back from the dead and what that would lead to? I imagine that was a big secret to keep for a while.
I thought that was just such a great intro to the show. I had no idea they were gonna do that. I was trying to understand how it made sense that he was the inner monologue and then realizing all of those things. It’s kind of cool. I read the script again, you’re like, oh, all those things are him commenting on what happened.
Or at least, you know, he may have been thinking that at the time, but he’s like, remembering what he thought, rather than it being live in the moment like it is with the original. I think it just ties those two together so, so well. I’m just excited to see what they do with Resurrection.
I bet it’s exciting to be able to watch it now with this new context, that you’re part of it, but also not part of this. You just get to watch from the sidelines, but you’re also in the universe.
Yeah! I think it’s a very interesting thing for Michael to watch. I mean, I don’t even know if he can. It’s such a weird thing to see somebody doing your thing. [laughs]
