‘Dexter: New Blood’ Star Clancy Brown Reveals He Was Initially Considered for Role in Original Series
Clancy Brown gives a great performance in Dexter: New Blood as Kurt Caldwell. But viewers may be surprised to learn that he was allegedly considered for a different role. Brown revealed in an interview that he was initially considered to play Officer Harry Morgan, a role that eventually went to James Remar.
Brown could have been in the original series
Brown was first announced for Dexter: New Blood in January of 2020, roughly three months after Showtime announced the revival. He detailed his reasoning for wanting to do the series in a new interview on The Rich Eisen Show.
“I took it because it was the pandemic, and I hadn’t worked in about a year,” he shared. “I do remember the first iteration of it, and when it was being cast around, they were considering me for Remar’s part for a second. Glad I didn’t do it because Remar was so good in it. I didn’t watch it though, but as soon as they were interested [in me for ‘Dexter: New Blood’] I started watching all of it, and was kind of amazed by how terrific it is.”
Remar had a big role in the original as Harry, a police officer who adopted Dexter after finding him at his mother’s crime scene. He taught Dexter the code as a teenager to help him control his murderous urges. But after walking in on him in the middle of a kill, he wound up taking his life. Harry then became the voice in Dexter’s head, appearing in all eight seasons until Dexter realized he no longer needed him.
Why isn’t James Remar in ‘Dexter: New Blood’
Dexter: New Blood begins almost a decade after Dexter abandoned his life in Miami. Set in the fictional small town of Iron Lake, New York, the show finds Dexter hiding out under the name Jim Lindsay. It, of course, sees the return of Michael C. Hall and several other actors from the original show — but not Remar. Apparently, writers wanted to try something new with Jennifer Carpenter’s Debra Morgan taking over as Dexter’s conscious.
“We weren’t going to do the same thing with James Remar. We had a great opportunity to do it with Deb,” showrunner Clyde Phillips explained on TV’s Top 5 podcast.
“Harry was more of a, no pun intended, father figure and Deb plays Dexter’s doubt … And the way [Michael C. Hall] wanted his relationship with Deb to be is like, they are an old, lived-in married couple — not old, I mean longtime, lived-in married couple — with a great sense of comfort who are not afraid to argue.”
“So it’s different than Harry,” he added in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes. “In fact, Deb is against Dexter killing. Deb is the questioner. She’s the one that makes you need to be certain that what you’re about to do is the right thing.”
Brown is the villain of ‘Dexter: New Blood’
As much as Deb tried to stop him, Dexter ends up killing again anyway in Dexter: New Blood. He targets Matt Caldwell, a man who killed five in a boating accident, not realizing he’s Kurt’s son. Kurt is a family man fiercely protective of those he loves. He also has a double life as a serial killer.
It seems, then, that it’s only a matter of time until he and Dexter get into it. Dexter just has to figure out a plan to take him down. Watch Dexter: New Blood at 9 p.m. ET on Sundays on Showtime.
