New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

The shakeup is an exciting one. I think it breathes a little life into a series that had been doing the same thing for four years but in new clothing each time. Dexter is excellent television – don’t get me wrong – but each season seemed to follow a similar template. To have a season not be confined by what we’re used to, we can expect the unexpected.

To have a new supervillain also would have been a disservice to John Lithgow, who was absolutely chilling as creepo Arthur Mitchell. The dude was murdered by Dexter by season’s end like the ones that came before him, but not before he snuck over to Dexter’s pad and left Rita floating in her own blood in the bathtub.

Lithgow would have been difficult for the writers to top. He easily was the best villain the show has had to date. It makes sense to me for the new season to switch gears, drop the supervillain idea and something a little different.

Her?

A healthy amount of fresh blood is joining the cast of Dexter in season five. The most important, I think, would be Julia Stiles, who will appear in 10 of the season’s 12 episodes as a woman named Lumen.

Now, Julia Stiles hasn’t done much lately. In 2009, she appeared in a handful of indies, and in 2008 she took the year off… her last big-ish role would be Nicky Parsons in The Bourne Ultimatum, and that one came out three years ago. Before that, The Omen, which was released in 2006.

Starring in a series like Dexter could lead to a bit of career resurgence for Stiles, whose best movie is still 10 Things I Hate About You. An easy example would be Catherine Keener, who starred in a little movie with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd and has appeared in a number of high-profile projects – Capote, Into the Wild, Where the Wild Things Are – since.

I’d like this to happen for Stiles. I’ve always liked her.

New showrunner

Finally, the new season will have to make do without executive producer and showrunner Clyde Phillips, who has been a leading creative force for the series since the beginning along with Daniel Cerone (who left after two seasons) and Melissa Rosenberg. Filling Phillips’ shoes will be Chip Johannessen, a co-executive producer of 24.

I’m more scared by this news than embracing of it, because Johannessen has some gigantic shoes to fill. Sure, the show is loosely based on a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay. Yet after the first book (and first season of Dexter), the TV show differentiated itself from the books.

Dexter has always been quality, and I wonder, generally, what Johannessen will do with the show.

It’s interesting to me that a newb would be brought in to fill in for Phillips’ departure. Besides adapting the Twilight books for Summit Entertainment, I wonder why Melissa Rosenberg declined to be Dexter’s showrunner if she, in fact, was offered the position.

As uncertain as Johannessen may be as showrunner, Rosenberg is still head writer and a co-executive producer of the series. It’s important, really, to have someone in there from the start. It’ll help set (and maintain) the tone.

Dexter survived a major change after season two when Daniel Cerone left the show. I’ll bank on the fact that the show can probably do it again.

Dexter, season five, premieres on September 26th.

Continued:       1       2