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Dexter will return in 2021 with 10 new episodes. Whether or not Jennifer Carpenter will reprise her role as Debra Morgan remains a mystery. Still, we’re celebrating Dexter‘s return with an official count of how many times Deb dropped the f-bomb in the show. 

Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter
Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Debra Morgan has a penchant for cursing 

Carpenter played Dexter’s (Michael C. Hall) adopted sister. Together, they worked for the Miami Metro Police Department, Dexter covering up his need to kill and Deb masking the feelings she had for her adopted brother. 

Carpenter quickly became a household name thanks to her portrayal of the sailor-mouthed detective. Ironically, Carpenter cut out a lot of the cursing showrunners included in initial scripts. In an interview with Vulture from 2010, Carpenter admitted to censoring the material she received. “I actually take a lot of the cuss words out,” she said. 

Why does Debra Morgan curse so much? 

There are many theories about why almost every other word out of Deb’s mouth seemed to be a variation of f*ck. Deb’s foul mouth could be a result of the trauma she experienced throughout her life. She lost her mom when she was young. Not long after, she also lost her father, Harry (James Remar). Deb’s penchant for cursing could have developed from grieving her parents.

Later in her life, Deb experienced even more trauma, what with being engaged to the Ice Truck Killer, who doubled as Dexter’s biological brother Brian (Christian Camargo). 

Another theory is that Deb’s foul mouth comes with the territory of her work. There’s no doubt being a detective in a fictional Miami where there are an incredible amount of murders can be taxing on a person. Plus, cursing around a police precinct seems to be the norm. 

Jennifer Carpenter has a favorite Deb swear 

Considering how much her character swore throughout Dexter‘s eight-season run, Carpenter had a lot to choose from. But when asked which of Deb’s famous cuss words was her favorite, she had this to say: 

We had some criminal coming in during the second season, I think, a really tall gigantic football player, and I called him ‘a f*cking beef bus,’ which made me laugh.

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That phrase was followed closely by another Debra Morgan original. “I [also] really like ‘I’d rather put a campfire out with my face,'” Carpenter added. “‘Sh*t a brick and f*ck me with it’ is also okay.” 

Deb says ‘f*ck’ 996 times in ‘Dexter’ 

Bloody Disgusting spoke with YouTuber Adam Eyster about a video montage he created. His masterpiece highlighted all of the times Deb curses throughout the show’s 96 episodes. 

“I’ve done my best to compress each F*CK down to only the word or simply the phrase surrounding it,” Eyster explained. According to his calculations, there is roughly 20 minutes worth of Deb cursing. 

“I was shocked to see how much time actually passed over 8 seasons when compressing all of them together,” he continued. “I was also surprised just how many times she managed to spew it out of her mouth.”

Somehow, it’s impossible to imagine Debra Morgan without the mouth of a sailor. 

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