Maybe she’ll get a chance to register her complaint whenDexter: New Bloodpremieres on Nov. 7.
That’s right: Deb is coming back!
But how, exactly?
Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter in ‘Dexter: New Blood’.Seacia Pavao/SHOWTIME
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: After Dexter ended in 2013, did people ask you about the possibility of a reboot?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:It felt open-ended enough that that possibility remained.
But conversations didn’t start in a real way until much later.
Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall in 2013.Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: And when did you first hear from anyone about bringing Deborah back in some form?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:Well, it actually didn’t happen that way.
How would that look?
Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall on ‘Dexter.'.Randy Tepper/Showtime
Would you want to do it?
Around May of 2019, it started to get quite real.
Some things I felt inspired to say on her behalf.
Fans have been so loyal and enthusiastic.
So I wanted certain things from it on their behalf before I was ready to go back.
JENNIFER CARPENTER:I can’t speak for him.
I think it’s well known that I did want Deb to die.
I didn’t want to live on in the darkness that way.
At the time I was happy to just sort of disappear into the abyss and disconnect.
I hate that [people found it to be] a disappointment.
It’s the most personal investment you’ve got the option to make, playing a character.
It was incredibly hard to hear, but I hope that the spotlight wasn’t on Deb.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:How did you feel about the way Deb died?
Did you want something a little more dramatic?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:When I watched it, it broke my heart.
On behalf of my character, I thought that he vandalized her and disfigured her entire being.
But we are talking about a serial killer who is deranged and prone to hurt others.
Everybody wants to look at him like a real boy or a real man.
The story always seemed to have this sympathetic attitude about him wanting to be aneatmonster.
But he’s sick and it made me realize what a dead end he was.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:So how will you appear inNew Blood?
As a voice in his head?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:I don’t think it’s as simple as that.
That’s part of what those conversations were about.
What purpose would I serve coming back?
What would the dark passion passenger look like if it had an all-access pass to this man?
We never shot anything in order.
It feels like this sort of encased season happened on a four-lane superhighway.
It almost felt like the story exists on two campuses.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Do you think Deb believes her brother should have to pay for his sins?
She should have put him in prison and he should have suffered in prison.
But that would have been the right justifiable thing to do that would honor her truth.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Can we take a brief jog down memory lane?
Remember whenDexterwas such a big hit at Comic-Con?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:I don’t think that I understood and I still don’t.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:How did it feel to say goodbye to the show in 2013?
JENNIFER CARPENTER:I felt a lot of ways.
I felt dead and I felt revived.
I felt privileged and I felt like I needed repair.
And in some ways, I felt like an addict.
I still wanted more of it.
I did the scene with Michael and I started crying like crazy.
I got back to my room and my eyes were so red.
It almost scared me.
I couldn’t believe that my body was telling me how much this meant to me.
It was sort of out of my control, how much I cared about it.
