What The Cast Of Dexter Is Doing Today
For eight wild and bloody seasons, Showtime's Dexter followed Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a lab tech for Miami Metro Homicide — and also a secret serial killer vigilante who hunts down criminals who've escaped punishment. With his plastic-coated kill room and cold scalpels, Dexter enacts his own form of justice by dispatching these folks, dismembering them, and dumping their bodies where they shouldn't be found.
The stakes heighten further and further with each season as Dexter tries to balance his Dark Passenger and his eventual responsibilities as a brother, husband, and father, and his double life ends up exacting a huge death toll — especially on the people he loves the most, like his wife Rita (Julie Benz) and his sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter).
By the end of Dexter's run in 2013, Dexter Morgan has lost everything, including the inner monologue that drove the audience's engagement with his story. Tonight has not been the night for some time, so let's see what the diverse cast of Dexter is doing today.
Michael C. Hall
Thanks to Michael C. Hall's compassionate and nuanced performance, viewers couldn't help but root for Dexter Morgan even though he was technically a serial killer. Even if you can't relate to the reality of his Dark Passenger, Dexter's struggles to connect with others in healthy ways is an issue that many people contend with. And while we couldn't always agree with his choices, his story was still so compelling that we were along for the ride anyway.
Since his 96-episode turn as Dexter Morgan, Hall has been keeping busy and dipping into lots of different creative arenas. Aside from bringing some major Dexter energy to his roles as a panicked father in the Harlan Coben-adapted miniseries Safe and the Bulgarian in the action comedy Game Night, Hall also uses his prodigious voice talents for the Justice League animated series as well as Star vs. the Forces of Evil. He also starred alongside Rebecca Hall in drama Christine, Sam Shepard in Cold in July, Adam Driver in The Report, and had a brief role on The Crown as John F. Kennedy. His next television show will be a period piece set in post-war Germany called SHADOWPLAY, also starring Taylor Kitsch and Logan Marshall-Green.
Hall is a former Broadway musical star, and since Dexter wrapped, he's joined a band called Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum with two of his Hedwig and the Angry Inch colleagues Matt Katz-Bowen and Peter Yanowitz. Hall also recorded his first audio book, the unabridged version of Stephen King's Pet Sematary.
Jennifer Carpenter
As Dexter Morgan's profanity-spewing cop sister Debra, Jennifer Carpenter appeared in every episode of Dexter along with her onscreen brother. Debra's personal and professional arc was often challenging, culminating in her murder by the serial killer the Brain Surgeon (Darri Ingolfsson) in the final episode of the show. After everything she'd already been through for Dexter's eight seasons — from accidentally getting engaged to the Ice Truck Killer (Christian Camargo) to her other dating disasters — it was tough to watch Dexter summarily dump his sister's body where he dumped so many of his victims. Debra was quite the badass and she deserved a better ending, even though her murder served to fully sever Dexter's character from his charade of normalcy.
Like her real-life ex-husband Michael C. Hall, Carpenter has been keeping busy with feature film and television projects since her last heartbreaking frames on Dexter. Carpenter loaned her voiceover talents to both Marvel and DC animations as Black Widow in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher and Selina Kyle in Batman: Gotham By Gaslight.
As for feature films, she starred with Rufus Sewell in the horror movie The Devil's Hand and alongside Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson in the action thriller Dragged Across Concrete. Carpenter has also landed lead roles in two TV shows since Dexter, playing the romantic interest in Limitless as well as a complicated villain in The Enemy Within. Her next upcoming project is the drama A Mouthful of Air, which also stars Britt Robertson and Amanda Seyfried.
David Zayas
Another core character who starred in all 96 episodes of Dexter is Angel Batista, Dexter's Miami Metro colleague and eventual friend. With his signature fedoras and colorful wardrobe, Angel is the perfect foil to Dexter — honest to a fault, fiercely loyal, and someone who brings empathy and compassion to his various roles in law enforcement, from detective to sergeant. He may not always make the best decisions, but when he messes up he always owns it, and his sense of humor is always welcome.
Since the close of Dexter, David Zayas has maintained a steady presence on the small screen with a number of recurring roles on television shows. He played Junior alongside George Lopez in Saint George, Sal Maroni on Gotham, Sheriff Aguirre in Netflix's Bloodline, Eduardo Bernal on Shut Eye, El Alma del Diablo on Deadly Class, and Governor Martin Mendez on Blue Bloods. Zayas had one-off TV roles on Quantico, Elementary, The Blacklist, Teen Titans, The Guest Book, and Chicago P.D. But he hasn't only been working the rounds on TV.
Zayas starred in a number of feature films including Ride with Helen Hunt and Luke Wilson, the Annie remake alongside Jamie Foxx, Tallulah with Ellen Page and Allison Janney, and Lost Cat Corona with Gina Gershon. Zayas has a number of films in post-production including horror movie Body Cam, action film Force of Nature also starring Mel Gibson, and sports drama Eli Moran. Zayas also has a television show, The Horror of Dolores Roach, in pre-production.
James Remar
As Dexter Morgan's adoptive father Harry, James Remar rounds out the core cast of characters who appeared in all 96 Dexter episodes. Harry Morgan was as complex a character as Dexter, developing Dexter's vigilante "code" once he realized that his son was going to be a killer. But Harry is also one of the show's most tragic figures: once he saw what he'd trained Dexter to do, he killed himself for giving his monstrous son permission to act on his dark impulses. With his raspy voice and sad eyes, Harry's ghost often serves as Dexter's conscience along with Debra.
James Remar has absolutely not stopped working since his tenure on Dexter and has been in an impressive list of films and television shows since 2014. Remar has had large recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, Beware the Batman, Wilfred, The Legend of Korra, State of Affairs, The Shannara Chronicles, Gotham, The Path, Animal Kingdom, CIty on a Hill, Magnum P.I, and Black Lightning, not to mention all the one-off TV episodes he's also managed in the meantime. But there's more: Remar also had a role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Oz Perkins' The Blackcoat's Daughter, and a handful of other features of slightly questionable quality.
C.S. Lee
Just one episode shy of being in the complete series, C.S. Lee as Dexter's lab tech partner Vince Masuka often brought much needed, if creepy and weird, levity to Dexter over the course of its eight seasons. Between his snazzy fashion sense, funnily perverted sense of humor, and distinct chuckle, Masuka was often as much Dexter's ally as his foe since they shared such a small lab space. Dexter often used their lab to do his own research as well as alter lab results when he wanted to bring a potential killer to his own table, so Masuka's inopportune barging in helped heighten the show's tension.
Lee has had a handful of longer character arcs on television shows, but nothing compared to his run as Masuka. Lee appeared in season two of True Detective as Richard Geldof, as well as roles on Blunt Talk, Fresh Off the Boat, Power, Sneaky Pete, Silicon Valley, and Chicago Med. He had one-off parts in a number of other shows, including Blue Bloods, Franklin & Bash, Criminal Minds, The League, Family Guy, MacGyver, 24: Legacy, Lethal Weapon, Snowfall, Magnum P.I., Warrior, All Rise, and The Rookie.
Finally, C.S. Lee played bit roles in the sci-fi horror Toxin alongside Danny Glover, as well as the lower-budget films The Better Half, Tilt, Everything Beautiful Is Far Away, Come As You Are, and Sorta Like a Rockstar.
Luna Lauren Velez
Luna Lauren Velez's run as Lt. Maria LaGuerta on Dexter lasted for 85 episodes, or six of eight seasons. Before her untimely death at the hands of Debra Morgan after having figured out that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher, Maria LaGuerta was an exceedingly driven and ambitious woman. If she'd been sorted into a Hogwarts house she would certainly end up in Slytherin for her shrewd nature and ability to manipulate situations to her personal and professional advantage. It was these qualities that unfortunately led to her demise, and even after her death, Maria LaGuerta cast a very long shadow over the remaining seasons of Dexter.
Velez followed up her performance on Dexter with the role of Tetra in fantasy horror show South of Hell, also starring Mena Suvari and Zachary Booth; a two-season run on popular murder mystery drama starring Viola Davis How To Get Away With Murder; and a brief turn on Blue Bloods as well.
As for feature films, Velez dipped her toes into the Marvel Cinematic Universe voicing Miles Morales' mom Rio in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, as well as the Purge franchise in the horror movie The First Purge, and had featured leading roles in Windows on the World and Ana. Aside from her one-off roles on shows like Madam Secretary, Unforgettable, and Elementary, she also landed a supporting role in Swallow, starring Haley Bennett and Austin Stowell.
Desmond Harrington
In some ways an anti-hero to match Dexter Morgan himself, Detective Joey Quinn joined the Dexter cast in its third season and appeared in 72 episodes leading up until the series finale. Right from his first appearance, Quinn was a brash womanizer who turned out to be under investigation by Internal Affairs for a number of different protocol violations that seemed to paint him as a dirty cop. He struggled with addiction, his temper, and often coerced vulnerable folks around him like his confidential informants to do his bidding against their will. His on-again-off-again relationship with Debra ended in her tragic death, before which she might have told him she did actually love him.
Since his run as Quinn, Desmond Harrington has almost exclusively worked on television, which is quite the opposite from how his career began in feature films like Joan of Arc and The Hole. He has only had one supporting feature film role since Dexter in the arthouse fashion horror film Neon Demon. Harrington has had significant character arcs on Those Who Kill, The Astronaut Wives Club, Limitless, Shooter, Sneaky Pete, and Elementary, as well as one-off roles on Brooklyn 99.
His second feature film since Neon Demon, Butterfly in the Typewriter is currently in pre-production and follows the story of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Harrington will play famous author Jack Keruac.
Julie Benz
Rita Bennett, played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Julie Benz, had one of the most dramatic character arcs on Dexter. She began as a battered woman, still healing from the sexual and physical violence her ex-husband put her through. But with Dexter's entrance into her life, she moves forward and they begin building a home and family together. Unfortunately, because of Dexter's terrible decision making during the Trinity Killer hunt, Arthur Mitchell murders Rita in her own bathtub, leaving baby Harrison (Luke Andrew and Evan George Kruntchev) sitting in her blood just as Dexter had been left in his own mother's as a child.
After playing out one of the most shocking television deaths of all time after her 49th Dexter episode, Benz has split her time fairly evenly between television shows, and both TV and feature films. She has had long runs on No Ordinary Family, A Gifted Man, Defiance, Hawaii Five-0, and Training Day, as well as an ongoing lead role on Showtime's satire about multi-level marketing scams, On Becoming a God in Central Florida.
V.C. Andrews fans would have seen Benz as Kitty in Lifetime's adaptation of the Heaven series, but her catalog of other feature and television movies is rather more obscure, including some smaller Christmas movies like Christmas Homecoming, Charming Christmas, the horror film Havenhurst and the action thriller also starring John Travolta Life on the Line.
Christina Robinson
One of the things that adds to the menacing atmosphere of Dexter is the presence of so many young children in key roles throughout the story. For 47 episodes — only sitting out seasons six and eight — Christina Robinson's Astor Bennett essentially grew up before our eyes. When we first meet Astor she's a sweet, unassuming girl who loves to dress up as a princess and is extremely overprotective of her battered mother. But over her six seasons, her father dies under mysterious circumstances (*cough* Dexter *cough*), her mother is brutally murdered by a serial killer, and she is sent to live with her grandparents in Orlando.
After her last Dexter appearance in 2012, Robinson took a four-year break from screen acting and returned in 2016 with a short film Planting Daisies written and directed by Cici Chambers. She had a one-episode appearance on the anthology show Suspense, a supporting roles in family drama Emma's Chance, horror flick The Manor, and the romcom Philophobia: or the Fear of Falling in Love. As for television, Robinson had a 13-episode run on the sci-fi crime show Syn as one of the lead characters Eden in 2017. She has two movies currently in pre-production where she appears to be top billed, Trondora and Asgaya Part 2: The Ib.
Geoff Pierson
As Deputy Chief Thomas Mathews, Geoff Pierson appeared in 43 episodes of Dexter, only sitting out season three. As a staunch Morgan family ally because of his friendship with Harry Morgan all those years ago, Mathews inadvertently gets Lt. LaGuerta in Dexter's line of fire when he tells him of her theory that he's the Bay Harbor Butcher. As career law enforcement, Mathews makes some strange choices during his career, in particular promoting Debra to lieutenant well before she is ready for the role.
Pierson has gone on to a number of new television shows since Dexter, with long arcs on The Brink, Castle, Splitting Up Together, and Designated Survivor, as well as one-off appearances on Suburgatory, Enlisted, Sock Monkee Therapy, About a Boy, The Exes, The Astronaut Wives Club, Murder Book, Person of Interest, Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life, Homeland, Veep, and Young Justice.
As for feature films, Pierson has had supporting roles in action drama Revenge of the Green Dragons also starring Ray Liotta and Harry Shum Jr., the family drama You're Not You also starring Hilary Swank, and Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply. His newest feature, The Wrong Missy, includes David Spade and Lauren Lapkus.
Preston Bailey
Rita's younger son Cody, played by Preston Bailey, is another character who was featured heavily in all but seasons six and eight of Dexter. Unlike his sister, who often seemed much older than her years thanks to their abusive father, Cody was too young to remember all the violence around him in the Bennett house. And when he meets Dexter, he quickly treats him like his actual father and they become close in the strange way Dexter keeps intimacy at an arm's length. Even after Cody's biological dad dies and his mother is murdered, Cody maintains a kind of innocence even as his sadness is evident.
In the years since his 35 episodes on Dexter, Preston Bailey has almost exclusively worked on movies, with the exception of a short turn on the TV show Sketchy and the television movie A Country Christmas Movie. Bailey had a supporting role in Joss Whedon's In Your Eyes, played the younger version of Seth MacFarlane in A Million Ways to Die in the West, and appeared in the Harrison Ford family film Call of the Wild, as well as parts in the smaller-budget films By God's Grace and Pretty Broken.
Aimee Garcia
Angel Batista's sister Jamie, played by Aimee Garcia, doesn't show up until Dexter's sixth season, but she quickly becomes a fixture not just as Dexter's son Harrison's nanny, but also as a love interest for multiple characters including Joey Quinn. Jamie is vivacious and intelligent, and often a voice of reason for the characters around her including her older brother and Dexter himself. While she has a bit of a brush with one of Dexter's many creeps, the Ice-Truck-Killer-obsessed Louis Greene (Josh Cooke) who was using her for access to Dexter, Jamie makes it through Dexter mostly unscathed.
Garcia's post-Dexter career has seen her land recurring roles on the TV shows Rush Hour as well as an ongoing role in Lucifer, the latter of which sees her playing a geeky lab tech and splatter analyst like her old Dexter colleagues — with the exception that she's not a serial killer or a perv, she's perfectly adorable. Garcia has had brief turns on other shows including About a Boy, Impastor, and Family Guy.
Her feature film work has included supporting roles in 2014's RoboCop reboot, dramedies After the Reality and What They Had, courtroom drama Saint Judy, and gangster drama El Chicano, as well as voicing Denise on The Addams Family animated reboot. Other animated work includes the film Saurus City as well the animated series M.O.D.O.K. This multi-talented creative also co-wrote a graphic novel based on the hit Netflix series GLOW.
Luke Andrew and Evan George Kruntchev
It's wild to think that by its fourth season, Dexter had an actual baby onscreen amidst the horror — and that baby would end up in some gnarly situations indeed. Played by identical twins Luke Andrew and Evan George Kruntchev for 29 and 25 episodes respectively in seasons five, six, and seven, Harrison Morgan quickly became an important link to Dexter's humanity, especially after Rita's untimely death. He's just a toddler, but Dexter is extremely concerned that the trauma of Rita's death will turn him into a monster like him. But by the end of Dexter, Harrison (by then played by Jadon Wells) is left in the care of another serial killer, Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski), after Dexter fakes his death.
Luke Andrew and Evan George went on to a three-year run on Days of Our Lives as Parker Jonas from 2013-2015, and seem to have retired from screen work in the years since. Jadon Wells also went on to a stint with Days of Our Lives after his 11 Dexter episodes, as well as small appearances on CSI, Stalker, Drunk History, and Pitch.