This article contains spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection: ‘A Beating Heart’
Summary
America’s favorite serial killer has returned to television screens as Dexter Morgan’s journey is unexpectedly continuing as part ofDexter: Resurrection.After surviving being shot by his son at the end ofDexter: New Blood, Michael C.Hall’s beloved character is back, alongside a host of characters both old and new as the infamous Bay Harbor Butcher attempts to reconnect with his son while being chased by the demons of his past.
Game Rant’s Matthew Wilkinson had the opportunity to chat withDexter Resurrectionstar Bryan Lillis,who plays Ryan Foster, a flash and flamboyant guest at the Empire Hotel who has a dark and sinister secretthat leads to a major confrontation with Harrison Morgan. He spoke about his personal love of the originalDexter, where he thinks the story will go, while also revealing some unique information about the filming process of his epic fight scene with Harrison.
GR: Looking back to when you first got the role, how did you feel to be joining such an iconic series, and were you originally a fan?
Lillis: This show has been on my bucket list,it’s my favorite show of all time. I think I’ve seen it seven or eight times, so even when I got the audition, I was geeking and fanboying, and the fact that I even got to work on the set was a dream come true.
GR: You didn’t need to rewatch it as you knew the whole story?
Lillis: Yeah, I can run through the whole thing for you. But, I ended up rewatching it again after I booked it because I had probably around two months or so, and I had watchedNew Bloodwhen it had come out, so I had only watchedNew Bloodthrough one time. So I watched the wholeDexterseries again, and then I watchedNew Bloodthrough to prep for it, andOriginal Sin, so I was completely caught up again.
GR: In a show full of serial killers, your character is arguably the least likable. How did you go about preparing for that?
Lillis: Oh gosh, I tried to just think of the most unlikable guy I could think of in New York, and I’ve met a few guys like that, unfortunately. I just tried to bring as much slime as I could to it. Even before we had the fight scene, we had to sort of justify Harrison doing this, so we really pushed some buttons. We got kind of graphic with Mckaley Miller and threw in some extra comments just to really make him as slimy as possible.
GR: Was that originally in the script, or did you add some extras to make him a little darker?
Lillis: It was definitely written that way, but once we were on set, Marcos, Clyde Phillips, and Scott Reynolds were definitely throwing in a couple of, I feel like, slimier rewrites along the way, to attempt to push that envelope. I know they really wanted to justify and say, ‘hell yeah,’ and really justify his emotions there.
GR: Harrison and Dexter are constantly compared, and what he does in the opening episode will push that further. But what Harrison did was different, as it was in the moment and sort of heroic in some ways.
Lillis: Yeah, I watchedOriginal Sin, and I really compare it to Dexter’s emotions just being unchecked, and Harrison being so similar to him. So at the beginning ofOriginal Sin, I remember it was Molly Brown’s character, Deb, being assaulted by a guy at a college frat party, and Dexter just bullet-raged and threw him down the stairs, and he pulled back. I think Harrison was almost like a father-son; it was almost foreshadowing, I felt like. I don’t know if anybody is going to catch that or not, for this, we see that rage. We will seeif Dexter and Harrison can reuniteand if Dexter can help bring him back and bring him back in, we will see what happens.
GR: Fatherhood is a big deal in this series, which makes a show about serial killers more appealing.
Lillis: Without question, and I love that they brought Harry back for this to really kind of bring those OG relationships back, so I’m really excited to see what happens in the rest of this season and to see if they can connect again.
GR: There are quite a few original characters appearing in this show, so as one of the new guys, was it good to work with Jack Alcott?
Lillis: Jack was the best scene partner in the world, I really hit it off with him. We had to meet back in December to do stunt training together in New York. I had to come about a month early to do the body cast for that, and so we got to know each other right away, doing the fight training together. He was extremely welcoming, awesome, I couldn’t have asked for a better scene partner to work with.
GR: The fight scene is a massive part of the first episode. How was that to film?
Lillis: It was so much fun. I’ve always wanted to live out my action hero dreams, so even though it doesn’t end well for me, it was so cool going through that whole process. We had a great stunt team, an incredible stunt coordinator, the stunt doubles we had were awesome, and it was just so cool. Nothing but amazing, fun things to say about it. I definitely have some bruises to show for it as well.
GR: The lighting was particularly impressive throughout that scene. What did you make of that and the atmosphere that it was creating?
Lillis: So dark and grimy. So, we filmed at the Empire Hotel and for the actual fight scene they needed more room for the fight so they actually built the hotel room and the bathroom on a sound stage ad they were mimicking the Empire Hotel so they had the red flurecat sign blown in so even walking into the set for me I was like, ‘How are you even going to see anything?’ It just seemed so dark and gruesome, and Mckaley Miller on the bed, everything was so yucky. It put us right into that mode immediately.
GR: Another thing that is different in this season is the use of music, what have you made of that?
Lillis: I’ve only seen my little cuts and stuff, so I’ve little pieces of the music, and I’ve had other people comment on how good it is. I know that when we were filming Marcos would just sit there as he’s watching the scene, and he’d just play a song, and he’d be like, ‘This would be so cool, add this to the list.’ So, that was fun to watch just from a fan point of view.
GR: Have you seen the full edit of what your body ends up looking like?
Lillis: I know because I did the body mould, and when we were on set the day of even being chopped up, it was me being pulled, being wrapped in the bag, being put up on the table. They would shoot shots where I would put a pad over my waist, and then Harrison would hack, and I was a part of all that. Then I got to watch the special effects team sort of sub my body out for the dummy, and it was so gruesome. I even got to keep a little piece of the face on a little body mould, so I’ll have that to scare my kids forever.
GR: It must be a strange feeling watching yourself in that way?
Lillis: I have some pictures on my phone, and it’s frightening. They did everything, Dave Presto, who did the body mould, they did dentures and everything. There was no stone left unturned; it was frightening.
GR: You get to pop up with a few jump scare scenes as the guilty conscience later on, how do you think that impacts Harrison?
Lillis: It’s definitely showing his conscience, right? Dexter throughout the series always had Harry, and then inNew Blood, he had Deborah, and he’d always have flashbacks with his brother, because that’s the murder that haunted him, because he had to kill his brother. For Harrison, because this is so unlike him and he’s struggling with his identity still, it was fun to be able to have a little bit of a different turn with his subconscious and how he’s feeling. There’s definitely a lot more humanity with him and it’s going to watch that throughout the season.
GR: That’s one of the significant differences between him and Dexter, as Harrison comes across as a lot more human.
Lillis: Yeah, there’s a lot more Rita relations, even the fact of him working in the hotel. There’s so many things that run parallel, it’s just so fun and sad, so I am excited to see what happens with his character.
GR: This season, we have a whole host of serial killers alongside Dexter. How excited are you to see that stacked cast come together?
Lillis: For real, just an insane cast. As a fan of the show, just being able to be on the soundstage and watch some of these guys come in for their costume fittings, and even pass some of them in the hallway. I’m the biggestPeter Dinklage/Game of Thronesfan, John Lithgow, obviously, one of the best villains ever, on top of being an Oscar-winning actor. Uma Thurman, I just think ofKill Bill, I’m geeking out, and I can’t wait to watch them all.
GR: Where would you like to see the show take Harrison?
Lillis: I don’t know, it’s going to be fun. I am curious to see what path he’s going to take, if he’sgoing to follow in Dexter’s footsteps, or if he’s going to be more like his mother, more like Rita, or even like Deb. I’m really curious to see who he ends up being most like.
GR: Finally, as a fan of the original show, how do you think people will take this new version?
Lillis:From what I can tell from the script, even from the first four episodes,they’re pretty like that OGDexterwith the feel and darkness and grit ofNew Bloodfrom that newer age. It feels a little bit faster-paced. I know that first episode, especially when I read it, it was so much. It felt like eight episodes' worth of material happened in an hour, so I think it was non-stop action. I think it’s going to be a really fun ride for audiences. There’s so many tidbits with OG cast members, so it’s going to be fun for people to watch.
