Of all the great series of the early ’00s, Dexter is far and away one of the best. I mean, a show about a serial killer who only kills serial killers — how could anyone not be enticed by that?!
Recently, it was announced that the iconic series will be returning for a limited run. In order to help celebrate, I’ve collected these 10+ very random facts about Dexter that fans likely didn’t know.
Julie Benz originally auditioned to play Dexter’s sister.
It’s ironic that the woman who wound up playing Dexter’s sister on the show became his wife in real life.
And that the woman who auditioned to play his sister wound up becoming his wife on the show.
Michael C. Hall nearly died while filming season 5.
Not too long after season 4 wrapped, Michael was given the news that he’d been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma . He was simultaneously filming season 5 while receiving chemotherapy treatments.
He has since made a full recovery.
Former showrunner Clyde Phillips had a very different end in store for *Dexter*.
Instead of Dexter running off to become a lumberjack, Clyde would have had the show’s protagonist meet his demise via lethal injection .
The final image would have shown Dexter lying on the table, with all of his victims looking onward from the galley.
The Trinity Killer has a real-world origin story.
Bind. Torture. Kill. That was the mantra of the infamous BTK Killer , one of the most notorious serial murderers that ever was.
Sources confirm BTK was the basis of inspiration for Trinity.
David Zayas used his own son as a stand-in for certain scenes.
Stand-ins are commonplace when it comes to filming TV shows. Lucky for David Zayas that his son bears such a striking family resemblance.
I wonder if father and son have ever worked together before in such a way?
Michael C. Hall really did stalk people to prepare for his role.
Michael was living in New York when he was offered the lead role in the series.
To help him better prepare and get into the character’s mindset, he began following strangers he’d encounter on the street.
Absolutely no one knew when they were going to be killed-off.
This was done mainly to keep people’s minds focused on the work at hand.
People aren’t typically at their most productive if they’re constantly looking over their shoulder or waiting for the ax to fall.
The musical score might sound familiar to some.
Daniel Licht wrote music for a wide array of films over the course of his life. In the 1993 film Necronomicon: Book of the Dead , there’s a piece of music titled “Because the Dawn.”
This would later become the main theme for Dexter .
John Lithgow technically made his debut all the way back in season 1.
Remember Dexter and Rita’s awkward couch encounter? The film that they were watching together was Terms of Endearment , one of John’s earliest films released in 1983.
Do you think this is what maybe gave them the idea to cast him as Trinity three years later?
Rita’s death scene was incredibly emotional to shoot for the crew.
“It was just a surreal moment, Prop Master Joshua Meltzer explained.
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“We all knew when we were shooting this and looking at Julie in the bathtub, and the little boy on the floor, what it was gonna be for the audience when they saw it.
There’s a nod to *American Psycho* that you may have missed.
Patrick Bateman is the deranged Wall Street mangler in American Psycho .
When Dexter buys tranquilizers, he uses the pseudonym Patrick Bateman. Dexter has also gone by the name Sean Ellis: a combination of Patrick’s younger brother from the novel, as well as the author Bret Easton Ellis .
Dexter’s brother could have been played by an Avenger.
Jeremy Renner was first offered the role of Brian Moser. He’d recently portrayed the infamous serial murderer and necrophile, Jeffrey Dahmer , and was incredibly hesitant about stepping into the shoes of yet another serial killer.
The show managed to piss off the entire continent of Australia.
The commercial in question shows Dexter waiting for a plane headed to Adelaide, AUS.
When Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is asked why he’s headed to that specific destination, he replies that Adelaide has the highest number of serial killers per capita than anywhere else in Astralia.
They had to start using less plastic as time went on.
Not for any environmental reasons mind you, but rather to help guarantee the actor’s safety.
All of that plastic was suffocating their skin and could have resulted in an injury or far worse.
It wasn’t actually filmed in Miami.
Instead of filming in the sweltering Florida heat and humidity, showrunners opted instead to film on the west coast.
The majority of what is portrayed as being Miami actually takes place in Long Beach, California.
