Things are heating up in Miami for Dexter Morgan and company, as Dexter heads into the last batch of episodes before the series finale.
In last night’s episode, beautiful next door neighbor Cassie turned up bludgeoned to death in her apartment. While Cassie had formed a crush on our favorite serial killer, it was her good-guy boyfriend, played by Darri Ingolfsson, who was most shocked by her death.
BuddyTV caught up with Ingolfsson to talk about that surprise ending, joining the show in it’s last season, and the show’s closely-guarded final moments:
In last night’s episode sadly Cassie [played by Bethany Joy Lenz] is killed off. Were you shocked when you found out the show had killed her character?
Yea and, as you will see, it’s a big shock to my character as well. That was quite a blow and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. We have a little psychopath running around.
What was it like working with Bethany Joy Lenz?
She’s great. It’s very easy to work with her. She’s just a “joy” to be around. [laughs]
What can you tease about how your character is going to factor into the murder investigation?
Well to begin with at least I’m trying to help them figure out who did it. A lot of things point towards Zach Hamilton. A lot of evidence points that way, at least initially, which is going to cause probably a little bit of dilemma for Dexter, seeing as how he’s taken it on himself to become his teacher.
What was it like coming aboard a well-established show like Dexter, especially one that’s going into it’s final year?
My first initial response was just a total appreciation. It’s just amazing to be a part of something that has so much history and is already a part of television and movie history because it’s so established. It was strange coming into a set where the people have been working together so long and they knew each other very well, so it was a little bit daunting at first.
But I have to say everyone there was very welcoming and very friendly. Also working with actors that are very secure in their characters and very talented makes it easier for me to work. The world has already been built up so well.
What was the attitude like on set? Since this is the last year of Dexter, was the atmosphere a little bittersweet as the cast was saying goodbye to the show?
Yea it was strange, especially towards the end seeing them taking down all the sets that have been there for a while. Then finally seeing characters you’ve been seeing for a long time slowly finishing shooting. It was bittersweet. It was sad to see it all go, but also I feel that people were excited to be there.
Originally when the show started I think a lot of people doubted how easily they were going to be able to continue a show where the protagonist is a serial killer. But brilliant writing and also brilliant performances have made it work for eight seasons.
That’s impressive.
Right. And in so many ways they were the first to do that sort of extreme anti-hero show. Now it seems it’s opened the door to more, I wouldn’t say gruesome, but it’s taken it to a different level.
That’s true. When Dexter started it was one of the few shows where it was a real, real anti-hero, because he’s actually a serial killer. Now it seems like that’s become a pretty big trend in TV in general, but when the show started it was very unique.
Yea exactly. Now psychopaths have become quite a household thing.
They’re all over the dial, there’s a million serial killer TV shows, but Dexter was the first.
I was humbled to be part of such an institution, let alone that it’s the last season. And getting to work with all those great actors and great directors. I’m fortunate, very fortunate.
Were you a fan of the show before you took on this role?
Oh yea, there’s not many shows that I follow from beginning to end, but Dexter was actually one of them. My brother was a huge fan, and so many people that I know. I finished season four and I was a few behind. I was planning on picking it up, and I definitely would have. Of course as soon as I got the part I had a really, really nice excuse to just bolt myself into my apartment and just binge watched.
You could binge watch but you could say it was for work.
Yea, I’m doing research!
What’s been your favorite experience on the Dexter set?
I don’t know if I can say…One of the top moments was a scene that I did with Michael [C. Hall] that was a lot of fun. Again he’s such a talented actor and it was just very nice to play off him.
You were on Last Resort last season, which was a show with a lot of great actors. What was it like working with them?
I didn’t really work with many of them, I was mostly working with Autumn Reeser. Again she was amazing and it was nothing but good working with her. That was like my first big American TV show that I did and she just made me feel so welcome. I met a lot of them and I made some good friends there. Daniel Lissing, who played the navy seal, we’ve become good friends and he lives in LA now as well.
I know Showtime is pretty tight-lipped about what you can say about the upcoming season but what can you tell Dexter fans about the end of the season? What should they be excited about?
They should be excited about everything! It’s going to be a crazy ride. There’s a few things that I don’t even know. There are some secret secrets that hardly anyone knows except for maybe a handful of people that were actually shooting it. So it’s exciting. I’m very excited to see how it’s going to end.
Do you know what the ultimate ending of the show is?
No, I know parts of it. But I don’t know THE end.
So they’re keeping that locked down.
There’s a very small number of people that carried on on the last, last day after everything had wrapped. I’m excited to see what they’re going to do.
So you’ll be almost as surprised as some of the audience when you see it.
Yea it’ll be interesting to see how they’re going to play it out, those last pages.
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(Image courtesy of Showtime)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
