Dexter – 8 seasons [2006–2021]

9.1

Description: Dexter Morgan, Miami Metro Police Department blood spatter analyst, has a double life. When he’s not helping the Homicide division solving murders, he spends his time hunting and killing bad guys that slip through the justice system. He spends his sun-drenched days solving crimes – and moonlit nights committing them. But not to worry, our Dexter doesn’t kill just anyone. He reserves his homicidal hobbies to taking only the lives of other killers.

Creator: James Manos Jr.

Stars: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas

Taglines:

Takes life. Seriously.
A Serial Killer with a heart….. just pray it’s not yours
No Sin. No Worry.
Dexter takes lives. Seriously.
America’s favorite serial killer.
He’s got a way with murder.
Blood never lies.
Anyone has something to hide.

Trivia

During Season 8, Angel Batista wasn’t always played by David Zayas. His son David Zayas Jr. stands in for his father in some shots, as the two look remarkably alike.

Dexter has killed about 117 people according to the Dexter Wiki. He had 45 blood slides in his first box before it was destroyed and now has about 43 slides in his new box. There were also 20 or so victims from whom he didn’t collect blood.

Though they play brother and sister in the series, having met on the show, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter married on 31st December 2008. They subsequently divorced in December 2010, but continued to work together in the show.

David Zayas, who plays Detective Sgt. Angel Batista, actually was a police officer with the New York City Police Department prior to becoming an actor. Before that he served in the U.S. Air Force.

Series star Michael C. Hall revealed he was afflicted with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January 2010, but continued to work on the series. Most of his fellow cast members were surprised by the news, because he had not disclosed his condition during production. Hall is, as of mid-2010, in remission.

Season 1 was heavily based on Jeff Lindsay’s novel called “Darkly Dreaming Dexter”. The following seasons vaguely reference the sequels of the novel.

Julie Benz (Rita Bennett) originally auditioned for the role of Debra Morgan.

Sgt. Doakes makes comments to Dexter that after looking into his background, he found that Dexter studied Advanced Jujitsu in college (which would possibly equate to a black belt), and that Dexter finished at the top of his class in medical school, but chose blood spatter analysis as his career. This implies that Dexter is a non-practicing M.D., though it’s never further explored or mentioned thereafter.

Michael C. Hall accidentally crashed the Slice of Life into a pier once during filming, causing $8,000 worth of damage to the boat.

Sgt. Angel Batista at times refers to Dexter as “socio” when speaking to him as a friend or in confidence. This is a clever English/Spanish play on words. While “socio” in Spanish means “associate” or “partner”, it is also the beginning of the word “sociopath/sociopata” (in both English and Spanish)

The name of the main character, “Dexter,” is also a Latin word meaning “right hand.” The implied complement is the Latin for “left hand,” “sinister,” reflecting his hidden dark side. In 2010 author Jeff Lindsay confirmed at a book signing in Edinburgh that he chose the name Dexter because it was the opposite of “sinister”, reflecting the character’s surface normality.

Dexter’s “knock-out” syringe ostensibly contains a solution of what he refers to as M-99 (Etorphine Hydrochloride), an animal tranquilizer more potent than morphine and is used by veterinarians to sedate creatures as large as elephants. The substance can only be legally acquired and administered with a DEA license.

While most of the shows are set in and around Miami, Florida, the series exteriors are mostly shot in Long Beach, California, with interiors shot at the Sunset-Gower Studios on Sunset Blvd. Second-unit crews shoot additional material in Miami to help add to the realism of the show.

In Season 1, Dexter and Rita watch Terms of Endearment (1983), which features John Lithgow. Lithgow would later star in Season 4 as Arthur Mitchell.

The search engine ‘Elliot’ that Louis Greene recommended to Dexter in season 6 actually exists.

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