Do you have a favorite moment from last season?
Executive producer Sara Colleton: "Oh lord! There are a number of them. But I'd say 'Easy as Pie, #307, when Dexter confronts something he's never had to deal with: somebody he loves who is dying, Camilla [played by Margo Martindale]. She begs him to speed her life to its end. It presents a moral quandary for Dexter which is wonderful to see. He makes a choice to break his code, in the moment experiencing a very human thing that he didn't know the power of, which is mercy."
What was the most surprising development of the season for you?
Colleton: "I think for the audience, one of the big themes of last year was Dexter's manhood—the end of the second season is when he finds out that Harry, who up until this point he had worshiped and followed to the letter of the law, killed himself because he couldn't handle what he had created with Dexter. So a lot of father/son issues come out and he pushes the boundary of the code, thinking, like all sons do, that he can ignore his father’s teachings. One of the ways Dexter pushes the boundary is when the very seductive Jimmy Smits arrives as Miguel and proffers the proverbial apple to Eve: 'I can be your friend, your brother, I can be everything that you never had, I can see you for everything you really are and not turn away.' Things we all wish we had."
What did Jimmy Smits bring to the season?
Colleton: "It was so much fun working with Jimmy—he came in and was like, 'As an actor, I am so looking for a challenge where I am not carrying the show, where I am not the president, where I'm not the good DA. I really would love to do something where I can use all sorts of other aspects of myself as an actor.' He was so wide open and he took that character and turned out one of the most seductive, mesmerizing performances. At first you can't tip your hand, you've just got to play it straight, but from the very first conversation where Dexter accidentally [in order to preserve his own life] kills Miguel's brother and he asks for Dexter to come to the scene and starts asking him things like 'Do you believe in the soul?' and all of these things that throw Dexter but gives you an inkling that there's more underneath. What Smits brings is that you buy the facade."
What does Michael C. Hall bring to the character of Dexter?
Colleton: "We would need three hours to talk about that. He is so brilliant and I can't imagine anyone else playing the nuances of his character because it is a high-wire acting job that he does. Every week, because there are so many elements to Dexter, he calibrates his performance perfectly and I never tire of watching his dailies. On a lot of shows where there is voiceover, so that the actor or director can mark the amount of space needed for the voiceover, there is a prompter who reads the voiceover. Michael Hall knows the voiceover--he knows exactly how he's going to say it and what kind of movement he wants and then he records the voiceover later and we drop it in and it fits perfectly into the look on his face There's that French word
plastique—he's very moveable and changeable. He can go from looking like a matinee idol or the boy next door to someone who you'd wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley just by lowering his brow. It's always about the acting, not about how his looks. And how many actors at this stage in their careers have had two iconic performances? But the real Michael Hall is nothing like [
Six Feet Under's] David Fisher or Dexter Morgan. He's a protean actor. Plus, he's funny as hell."
What set this season apart from other seasons?
Colleton: "Every year we pick up where we left off because, bit by bit, Dexter explores aspects of his being, and being a human being, [which is] partly why the audience finds a connection with a character that should repulse them. At the end of last year he decides, even though he realizes and is grateful to Harry and realizes the code Harry gave him allows him to have a life, he has to make it his own code and he can't live without Rita and the kids. They give something to his lonely life that he needs and he's going to marry her and he's terrified of the idea of becoming of father, of passing on a chain of behavior. He's terrified of it so he decides he's going to do it. Of course there's that tiny bit of blood that drops down the back of her wedding dress at the end—we're not doing just any old wedding, it's Dexter's wedding."
What's something you would want viewers to know about the show that doesn’t get enough attention?
Colleton: "I still think there are people who hear that it's a show about a serial vigilante killer and it puts them off, even friends of mine. It's a very hard show to describe in a couple of sentences. To me, the fact that he's a serial killer was a catalyst in human nature, and that fascinated me in a most unlikely way. I urge them—just give it a shot.”
Are you attending the Emmys? What are you most looking forward to?
Colleton: "Oh god, you bet I am! I would be most looking forward to see Michael Hall get his Emmy for Best Actor. I think he so, so deserves that. Whether
Dexter the show wins—there's great competition and great shows out there and that to me is the roll of the dice. Michael so deserves it, though, and that would make me extremely happy and proud."
What makes Dexter fans unique?
Colleton: "It spans the spectrum of groups—you know how in TV they say ‘This is something for 13-18-year-old boys, 18-22-year-old girls, this skews this way.' I have seen all the data and Dexter skews across the board, and that to me I love—I love the fact that the show works on so many levels and everybody brings something to it and brings something different
from it.”
