‘Dexter: New Blood’ Exes Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter ‘Have a Great Time on Set’, Says Showrunner
Dexter: New Blood had to find a creative way to keep Jennifer Carpenter on the show. They did, and she continues to costar with Michael C. Hall in the Showtime revival series. Fans who followed Hall and Carpenter’s personal life may be wondering if it’s awkward to continue to work together, but showrunner Clyde Phillips says the opposite is true.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the original series Dexter.]
Phillips appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast on Nov. 5 to preview Dexter: New Blood. Now that fans have been watching Hall and Carpenter every Sunday for a month, they may be wondering what it’s like to be on set with your ex. Dexter: New Blood airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
Jennifer Carpenter remained close with ‘Dexter: New Blood’ showrunner Clyde Phillips and star Michael C. Hall
Hall and Carpenter married in 2008 and filed for divorce in 2010. They still had a few more seasons of Dexter to make together. Since the show ended in 2013, Phillips said Carpenter kept in touch with his family too.
“We’ve maintained our friendship when she moved to New York with her baby,” Phillips told TV’s Top Five. “My wife and daughter helped get her into a Montessori school. My daughter was at Barnard and helped get her babysitters. We’ve been close all the way. Michael and Jennifer maintain a great friendship so when she was on the set, the whole set was elevated. They were having a great time and she was always open to new ideas.”
The personal history may have benefited Deb and Dexter
On Dexter, Deb (Carpenter)’s father, Harry (James Remar) adopted Dexter (Hall) when they found him as a child with his mother dead. At the end of the series, Deb was killed by one of the killers Dexter was hunting. In Dexter: New Blood, Deb replaces Harry as the voice in Dexter’s head. Phillips said their real-life history benefits the dynamic, and it was Hall’s idea.
“The way Michael described, which I think is really apt, the way he wanted his relationship with Deb to be is like they are an old lived-in married couple,” Phillips said. “Not old, longtime lived in married couple with a great sense of comfort who are not afraid to argue.”
Jennifer Carpenter gets to call out her ex
As Dexter: New Blood evolves, Deb has chastised her brother for many of his failings. He’s killed again, covered it up, and she doesn’t think he’s a good role model for Harrison (Jack Alcott) who returned to find him. Carpenter and Hall may get along, but when it comes to Dexter, Deb is right.
“They’re brother and sister,” Phillips said. “In real life they were husband and wife. Dexter said a line in the first season where Deb had gotten herself in trouble or something in the police station. Dexter says, ‘My sister Deb. If I were capable of love, she would be the one I love.’ That’s so telling because Dexter is so out there, so over there. Again, we have to remember, he is a sociopath. He is a psychopath. What he does is wrong. Yet, we welcome him into our home every Sunday night, now for soon to be 9 years. That’s an important distinction.”
