Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 has arrived, and it continues the story of Dexter Morgan as he comes face-to-face with two new serial killers while also juggling the responsibilities of parenting his son, Harrison.
In an interview with Nexus Point News, Jack Alcott, Nona Parker Johnson, and Bokeem Woodbine discussed what has kept Dexter going strong for 20 years and set it apart from other shows: the dynamics that work within the show and the pleasures of staying with one character for a long period of time.
What is it about Dexter as a franchise that you believe has allowed it to survive the last two decades, especially in a time where some shows don’t even make it past a first season?
Jack Alcott: It does two things exceptionally well, and it did them very early on before a lot of other TV shows did them and has sort of remained the blueprint for a lot of brilliant television and movies. It deals with crazy characters and extraordinary circumstances that are kind of on the reaches of the human experience. We’re dealing with psychoserial killers; that’s exciting and that pulls you in, and then on the other end, it somehow makes it relatable. We, as audiences, want to see exciting, interesting things, and we also want to be able to see ourselves in things and relate to the stories that we’re listening to, and to be able to do both of them really well and have your audience relate to a serial killer is a pretty tall order and I think it’s a really special thing that the show has continued to accomplish.
One of Dexter’s most iconic staples has been the wide cast of homicide detectives that we’ve seen throughout the entire franchise. How does it feel stepping into this role yourselves?
Nona Parker Johnson: It’s been something that I think I’m excited to see where they take it next. This season was a lot of fun. One of my favourite dynamics in [Resurrection] is Claudette and Oliva. I think there’s something really satisfying about seeing a really intelligent person figure out a really tough case. I’m looking forward to seeing how we fit into that later as well.
Bokeem Woodbine: I agree. I think that the interesting part of the show so far as it relates to me personally as an actor and my character is how law enforcement and Dexter oftentimes have similar goals; they kind of want the same thing in a way. It’s just that they go about it very differently. Law enforcement follows rules and procedure. Dexter, maybe not so much. I always thought that was very interesting as an audience member to see how they’re kind of going after the same thing. The writers are brilliant in the way that they can address the morality of justice, if you will, to an extent. I love that aspect of the show, and I think we have that a lot in Season 2.
In many ways, Harrison feels like he’s grown and matured since the events of Season 1 and New Blood. How was it portraying the same character only this time with different motivations and internal turmoils?
Jack Alcott: I mean, it’s just the greatest gift as an actor to get to stay with a character and grow with them over a period of years, but each season I’ve gotten to do, I’ve gotten to play a fairly different iteration of the same character. Like, we’ve got a really, really angry kid. We’ve got a slightly less angry kid, fighting for a normal life, and now we’ve got a pretty confident young man who knows what he wants to do and has a pretty nice relationship with his dad, who was the source of this turmoil for years. There’s been some reconciliation between the two of them and within Harrison himself. It gave me as an actor a phenomenal jumping-off point because we’re starting in a place that’s a little more stable, and it’s a type of stability we haven’t seen from Harrison and in between Dexter and Harrison. So when problems arise from that space, it’s going to look a little different.
Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 is out now on Paramount+
