It was revealed last month that Jennifer Carpenter would be returning as Debra Morgan for Dexter: New Blood. Given where the last season of the original series left her character, fans were wondering just how Debra would be used in the limited series.
During Showtime’s TCA presentation for Dexter: New Blood, Jennifer Carpenter revealed that Debra will be taking over the role of Dexter’s Dark Passenger, something many fans had already suspected.
I love the concept of the Dark Passenger and being invited into Dexter’s psyche. I feel like sometimes the Dark Passenger and the passenger is almost directly behind the wheel and it was an opportunity not to be an angel or devil on his shoulder, but to jerk the wheel to the left or right against his will. And to manipulate him, to navigate him, to abuse him, to save him. I felt like it was something entirely different than some sort of ghost entity.
Dexter’s Dark Passenger was previously inhabited by his deceased father Harry (James Remar), but Michael C. Hall teased that Debra’s version of the Dark Passenger will be a little different in Dexter: New Blood. “Harry was like Dexter’s north star in his consistent point of view, whereas Deb, in the context of this world, is coming from everywhere,” Hall said. “In that, she’s an internalized character for Dexter that represents just how far he’s come or how far he’s fallen— internally reeling and without a compass in a sense as much as he’d like to have one.” A new image from Dexter: New Blood was also released, showing Debra as Dexter’s new Dark Passenger.
Showrunner Clyde Phillips added that Debra “represents a corner of Dexter’s mind that we all have in our own heads that says, ‘Well, wait a minute, if you do this, then there are consequences.’ If you notice at the very beginning of the show when we introduce Deb, it’s very quiet and it’s very still. They’re talking about how he is the one who chose that place. They’re sitting at the table and Deb has her head down and Dexter almost touches it but he can’t because she’s a part of him.” Dexter: New Blood will debut on Showtime on November 7, 2021.