The actor talks about being a likable serial killer (who now has a baby) on Showtime’s criminally engrossing series

As Dexterheads into its fourth season, its eponymous hero has married his girlfriend, fathered a son with her, continues in his job as a Miami Police Department blood splatter expert – and keeps up his secret hobby as a serial killer of other murderers. This year, he tangles with a wily adversary played by John Lithgow. Michael C. Hall, who has received two Emmy nominations for his portrayal of one of television’s most complex characters, is as tight-lipped about spoilers as Dexter is about his after-hours activities.

Here’s what Hall has to say about his role in this exclusive iF interview.

Thanks to Meina for alerting us to an article with Michael about season four of Dexter at The LA Times. Minor spoilers here but if you are remaining totally spoiler free, here is your warning!

Dexter is about as good as evil can get. The Showtime series’ titular character is a sociopath who is driven to kill. His adoptive father, Harry, a cop, taught him to channel his blood lust so that he only murders other murderers. In following his father’s honor code, Michael C. Hall’s Dexter fashions a type of life for himself while hiding slides of each victim’s blood in his apartment’s air-conditioning unit as trophies. Unsurprisingly, he’s great at his day job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, where his adoptive sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) follows in their father’s footsteps, just a little less bloodily. (Carpenter and Hall were married in December.) Hall, previously known to audiences as David on HBO’s Six Feet Under, is indelible as a man possessed by darkness who tries very hard to resemble a normal human being. The Season 3 finale found him murdering his new best friend, escaping from, framing and killing another serial killer, and getting married to Rita (Julie Benz), his pregnant girlfriend. To viewers, it was all pretty reasonable behavior. Compelling as well: In three seasons he’s been nominated for three Golden Globes and an Emmy. Two days into shooting Season 4, which will begin Sept. 27, Hall sat down to talk about his character’s dark path. As he joked, “I feel like I’m Dexter’s press secretary sometimes,” he added a caveat: “I don’t think Dexter’s the most reliable narrator from time to — time, and I may not be the most reliable press secretary.”

Each season has had a strong overarching theme concerning Dexter’s connection with the world and with his darkness. Can you run them down?

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Emmy-worthy drama actors revel in the unflattering complexities of their characters.

Gone are the days when being a leading man on television meant being the most likable guy onscreen. TV actors now get to show their skills with dark, complex characters — even on broadcast network shows. The Hollywood Reporter‘s Ray Richmond and Matthew Belloni gathered six fine examples of TV’s new actor elite — Simon Baker (CBS’ The Mentalist), Bryan Cranston (AMC’s Breaking Bad), Laurence Fishburne (CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s Dexter), Denis Leary (FX’s Rescue Me) and Bill Paxton (HBO’s Big Love) — to discus the grind of series work and the good fun in playing bad guys.

Michael C. Hall plays the title role on Showtime’s Dexter, which returns tonight for Season 3. He is late of Six Feet Under. According to E!, he arrived “arm in arm” with his costar, Jennifer Carpenter, for HBO’s Emmy bash last weekend, on the evening he was nominated for but did not win the award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. (Continue reading)

“Well, yeah — to extend the metaphor, you do dive into the waters of the show. You’re pretty much swimming in them, it feels like one long day — in a way that I totally welcome and enjoy. … But right now I’m very much in the thick of it.”

GALLERY LINKS:
- Photoshoots: 2008 – LA Times

Be sure to check out this lengthy and informative interview with Michael C. Hall courtesy of Crave Online.

“Yeah, I feel like a press secretary or something.”

“The Incredible Hulk, for sure and I see parallels between that character and Dexter in terms of you know this undeniable, un-checkable – well, in Dexter’s case maybe it’s checkable – but darkness or compulsion or the Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing. I think as a kid, there were lots of things that I liked but that one I remember pretty vividly. I loved that show.”

“I mean the promo department, the in house people they have at Showtime and the people they hire to do some of the more expansive promo shoots and live action stuff, they’re so good and so imaginative and so really in tune with what I feel the heart of the show is. It’s really nice to step into those studio shoots or promo shoots and feel that you’re stepping into something that really supports and has an appreciation for the nugget of what the show is about.”