Dexter: John Lithgow: Q & A

The fourth season of Dexter returns to screens soon with actor John Lithgow playing the season’s fiendish ‘Trinity Killer.’

TV Tonight is happy to re-publish a supplied Q & A with the actor who says he feels like “the cat that ate the cream.”

Q: Were you a fan of Dexter before you joined the cast for season 4?
A: JOHN LITHGOW – I was only slightly aware of Dexter before. I’d watched it, little fragments of it a few times midway through the first season and immediately realised you have to see all of it. So I sort of put it off. So when the offer came, I really didn’t know the show. All I knew was that it was very good and that everybody I knew was crazy about it. So here I am. I accepted the part and then immediately started watching episodes and I couldn’t stop.

Q: What do you look for in a script? What drew you to this script?
A: The script has an astounding character. It’s an incredible character with quite an extraordinary arc to it – a sort of beginning; middle and end story over twelve episodes. It’s a completely captivating series. I love the premise of this series. The fact that the major character has this enormous secret that he has to withhold even from his sister and his wife. It’s almost an extreme version of how we live our lives. We all have secrets even from our nearest and dearest. They have just spun that into a completely compelling story. There’s this extraordinary tension between what’s really going on and what everybody thinks is going on that I really think is unique. There’s nothing quite like it and the character of Dexter is this amazing creation. You hear his voice so you’re inside his head and you totally know what’s going on with him and he’s a good person; a good person who has a diabolical compulsion. I just find that fascinating.

Q: What did you think of the Trinity character when you first heard about him?
A: Well, I had the fortunate experience of getting an entire detailed pitch for the whole season from Clyde Phillips [Dexter executive producer and head writer] when – basically, he was persuading me to take the job, or telling me what it was knowing that I would have to know before I decided yes or no. So he has told me every detail of this fantastic story and I’m the only one who knows. It’s an incredible story. So I feel like the cat who ate the cream.

Q: Tell us about the Trinity killer and why he’s called that.
A: He kills in threes. He has secrets which get rolled out in the course of twelve episodes and I don’t want anybody to know what those secrets are, needless to say. So I’m not going to tell you.

Q: Dexter has a lot on his plate this season. What’s he juggling this season?
A: This is the fourth season of Dexter. Every one of them has had a brand new color added. In this one, Dexter has become a suburbanite. He’s a married man with a little baby and he feels completely suffocated. He can’t continue his secret obsession quite so easily because he’s living around all these damn neighbors who keep inviting him to community action groups, socials and barbecues. He just feels completely suffocated. There again, it’s kind of a metaphor for the way lots of people experience their own lives. It’s like – how did I ever end up in this community?

Q: Do you think Dexter can have it all?
A: This particular season is all about whether or not Dexter can have it all. Can he keep on with this compulsion of his and yet can he have what we all want? A normal and fulfilling life with relationships – the wife and children and friends. It’s such a crazy idea to even talk about it in this rational way. That’s what I love about the show. It’s got all the mixings of a fabulous comedy and yet, it’s not. It was nominated for an Emmy for drama this morning not a comedy.

Q: So what can we expect from season four?
A: Season four sure has a monstrous villain at the very heart of it and that’s me. Things get off to a wild start. That’s one thing [viewers] can expect. The fans of Dexter don’t miss the first five minutes because that’ll keep you watching for the next twelve episodes.

Dexter returns 8:30pm Thursday December 3rd on Showcase.