IR Exclusive Print Interview: Michael C. Hall For "Dexter" [CBS/CW/Showtime TCA Party]

THE INSIDE REEL's Tim Wassberg caught up with Michael C. Hall, the star of Showtime's seminal series "Dexter" at CBS's TCA Party in Beverly Hills to talk about the intention of the sixth season and the incumbent element of spirituality brought forth from the new character of Professor Gellar (played by Edward James Olmos) as America's favorite serial killer continues to brave the battle between humanity and homicide.

TIM WASSBERG: Michael...I just saw you in the indie "East 5th Bliss" which premiered at the Newport Beach International Film Festival. Can you talk about balancing the approach of the sweetness and genuine quality of your character in that kind of an independent with that of the darkness of Dexter?

MICHAEL C. HALL: I think there has to be with Dexter some sense that there is some sweetness somewhere. In "East 5th Bliss" there is an openness involved and vulnerability that Dexter doesn't have and certainly doesn't cultivate.

TW: And that was a conscious decision on your part?

MCH: That was just responding to the character as it existed on paper and what I felt was appropriate.

TW: Could you talk how spirituality shows a resonance but also a renaissance in Dexter as a character going into the 6th season?

MCH:  I think that the question that Dexter finds himself asking at the beginning of the 6th season is really about his son. We know that Dexter doesn't want to pass on his dark passenger. His son is only growing older and only learning more and having more and more of an appetite. Dexter is like: "What do I want to pass on to this kid?" and that leads him to think about what kind of school he wants him to go to. It's a Catholic school and that cracks open a door to Dexter's awareness that those issues, while not important to him, might be to his son. At the same time, as Dexter tends to do, he attracts relationships and scenarios and cases that feed into that appetite. 

TW: Do those cracks of emotion make him an even darker character? Or more human? 

MCH: Both. (pause) I think the more human Dexter becomes, if he does in fact continue to kill, the darker he becomes, because the spectrum between the dark and light broadens, and that is sort of a tougher thing to consider in a way. 

TW: Continuing on that, perceiving an evolution of then versus now in terms of the Jeff Lindsay novels. how much did you take in relevance to Dexter as a character then and how it has expanded with the relationship with his children versus the mythology that continues to unspool within the show.

MCH: I think as far as mythology, as the show goes, it has its own mythology. Beyond the first book I haven't read [any more] honestly because I think it would confuse me. It would be like some sort of parallel universe.

TW: But what about the initial burn in terms of the character?

MCH: I think from the pilot episode we see that Dexter has an affinity for children and a protective impulse in regards to them that is unique and initially incongruous..and it has stayed alive. It is the saving grace (chuckling) that Harrison [his son] has.