‘Dexter’s’ gray areas
When Michael C. Hall took to the stage to accept a Golden Globe in January, it represented his first win after four nominations for his role as a serial killer on Showtime’s “Dexter.” Just a week earlier, with award season then in full swing and his Golden Globe appearance at the Beverly Hilton imminent, Hall was compelled to make a startling announcement: He was undergoing a battle with lymphoma. Though he joked backstage that the hat he wore to conceal the hair loss from his treatment gave him “a justifiable excuse for accessorizing,” he has kept his battle quiet. His wife and costar, Jennifer Carpenter, recently announced that the 39-year-old actor has “fully recovered.” In April, as “Dexter” began shooting its fifth season, which will begin airing in September, Hall shared his thoughts about America’s most lovable sociopath.
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Why do you think Dexter has connected
with audiences, despite his actions?
Audiences relish the opportunity to identify with these central, even glaring, flaws. I think all of us have a shadow that we carry around -- whether it’s as formidable as one that inspires you to be a serial killer.... But I think there’s something on a metaphorical level that resonates.
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Aside from the strict code that Dexter
lives by, what else keeps him relatable?
For me, it’s always been about what separates him from the rest of the world that makes him interesting: He lacks authenticity. We all struggle with issues of our own relative authenticity or inauthenticity. We all know what it’s like to behave compulsively and just feel like we’re not really in a place of choice when it comes to certain behaviors. The fact that he does take responsibility for his affliction is something that I think is admirable in spite of how it manifests itself.
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Is it the moral ambiguity that’s also
attractive to the audience?
I think audiences sort of respond to being given more credit than they’re accustomed to when it comes to considering a character who operates in shades of gray, not black and white. That’s how most people experience their life.
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Is it difficult to live with that character
and his dark passenger?
Toward the end of the season, we’re all kind of running on fumes, but that would be the case no matter what the story was. Whatever goes along with it is welcome. It’s an occupational hazard that you take your work home with you to a degree, but I don’t ever get confused [laughs].
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Is there anything that you’re hoping to
explore with Dexter in the next season?
Well, I’m certainly interested in going through the aftermath of the enormous mess that has been made of Dexter’s world at the end of the fourth season. And I think the relationship to the code, to the father, what happened at the end of the fourth season is sort of a revamped version of Dexter’s origin story. But in this case, he has some responsibility for what happened. I don’t know if that’s going to lead to his complete mental collapse -- doubt it -- or rehabilitation -- I doubt that too. But how will he move forward?
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The sociopathic side of Dexter seemed to
be in check last season with his sub-
urban life. Do you think he’s progressed?
There is some sort of undeniable development or progression toward humanity, but I think that every step he’s taken on that front has been a pragmatic step, one that he needed to make in order to continue to live a life that allowed him to indulge in his primary compulsion. Yes, I think undeniably Dexter is someone who has taken unique responsibility for his darker impulses, not killing indiscriminately. And does experience what seems to be a genuine connection to at least the children in his world. It has so much to do with the way Dexter frames it. He has to frame that progression and that learning and those different kinds of behaviors within a context that allows him to continue to do what he does without ending up in an insane asylum.
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