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Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter: ‘It’s Harder and Harder to Justify’ Deb Not Realizing Her Brother Is a Killer

Jennifer Carpenter.

As Dexter’s Debra Morgan, Jennifer Carpenter has a way with foul words and overlooking the obvious: her brother’s Dark Passenger. When we left her last week, she had just been promoted to lieutenant over the more seasoned Batista (the squeaky fucker gets the grease), leaving us to consider: Does her ascension to the top mean she’s that much closer to finding Dexter out? Or are we just that much closer to our televisions next time we yell, “Ask him why he’s always the first person to arrive at a crime scene!” (Please, God, don’t let Dexter get caught.) We spoke with the Kentucky-born actress about her character’s blind spots, why they drive her crazy, too, and the dirty Debism she’s saving for next season.

One last silly question: Dexter says “dark passenger” a lot. Is there anybody on set who’s counted how many times?
Not that I know of! I agree with you, but what’s funny is I don’t hear it as much because I’m not in those scenes. But there have been a couple of times when I’ve had a few lines like, “There’s gonna be another kill.” And I was like, “That’s Dexter speak.” We’re police. We would say killing. I think everyone’s so into the voice of Dexter that sometimes you have to pull them back and be like, “We’re not all serial killers.”

Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter: ‘It’s Harder and Harder to Justify’ Deb Not Realizing Her Brother Is a Killer