Original Sin’ Star Christian Slater Talks Current Role & Working With Sarah Michelle Gellar

Take a nostalgic trip down neon pleather lane along with your favorite psychopath/serial killer: In the new prequel series, Dexter: Original SinPatrick Gibson will play the younger version of Dexter Morgan as he comes of age in 1990s Miami and becomes the serial killing vigilante we have all come to know and love. And speaking of psychopaths, his father, Harry, will be portrayed by Christian Slater, who once played one himself, in the 1988 film Heathers. We recently got to sit down and chat with Slater about the new show and all things ’90s, including one former vampire slayer.

What drew you to this role? Were you a fan, or did you specifically want to play Harry?

Christian Slater: Well, it was a complete surprise to hear that they were doing an origin story of Dexter, and to get the opportunity to be a part of this universe sounded like a lot of fun. I thought Harry was a great character and certainly deserved to be examined a little bit more. I wanted to know a little bit more about his past. He was only in flashbacks; he was like a ghost. I felt like this was a worthy story to tell, and a very exciting character to play.

Are you going to play him like the original Harry, or are you kind of taking your own route?

It’s the same writers, so of course there are [similar] aspects, and there are certain scenes that were in the original show that we have re-created; but also, at the same time, our director, Michael Lehmann, describes it like a James Bond-type situation. It’s got all the Dexter-ness to it, but it’s also our own thing at the same time.

I heard it’s set in the 1990s, which is very exciting. How has it been going back to the ’90s? Are you enjoying that?

Yeah. It’s funny, the size of the computers that we have at our desks is hilarious, and the old phones, and having to explain those things to the kids here has been quite interesting.

What is your favorite ’90s thing that you wish was still around? They had some cool trends.

What are some of the trends? Maybe remind me of what some of the trends were.

Let’s see … Leg warmers, chokers, slinkies, talking to people in person instead of on Zoom.

Yeah. Yeah, there was definitely more human interaction. Of course, now I’m getting a lot of it at work, which is great. And at home I have a 5-year-old and a 3-month-old.

Yeah, I have a 5-year-old too. They’ll bring you back to the ’90s for sure.

Oh you do? Boy or girl?

Girl. We just went trick or treating two days in a row — so so much candy. She was obviously a character from Frozen for the third year in a row.

Oh my God, that’s great. That’s awesome. Elsa or Anna?

This year, she was Anna. But she was Elsa the last two years. What were your kids dressed as?

They made homemade costumes; my daughter made a flower costume, and my son made a sun costume. He’s going to be the sun and she’s a flower. It’s going to be pretty adorable.

When your kids are older, they can dress as your former characters on movies.

They could, I guess that could be fun. I guess I dress up for my career, but for Halloween I dress up as Indiana Jones.

What if you dressed up as your character on Heathers? That would be cool.

Yeah, that would be definitely interesting. Good old JD. I’d just strap a bomb to my chest and be all bloody, and, yeah, hiding my middle finger. It could work. That’s pretty good.

We have a lot of Heathers fans in the office, so I was tasked to ask you if you have any interesting memories from working on it.

Wow. I mean, yes, but it was a long time ago. I think it was good prep to play Harry, Dexter’s dad. I feel like JD would be that kind of father, the kind of guy who raised a serial killer. I mean, he had a very weird father on his own in the movie, which was an interesting dynamic. But I think just having that kind of background helped to play this character on this show.

I was going to ask you if that was helpful, because he was also crazy and liked to kill people.

Yeah, exactly. Also Michael Lehmann, who directed Heathersis directing this show.

Oh, interesting. I didn’t know that.

I hadn’t seen Michael in a long time, and to get to reconnect in this way is fantastic. It’s just been great. We’ve done 10 episodes and it’s been wonderful working together again. The writing has been really interesting, and to work also with Patrick Dempsey, who’s another guy I haven’t seen in about 30 years [has been great].

That’s fun. What about Sarah Michelle Gellar? I heard she was on the show too.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is probably the sweetest person on the planet earth. I mean, she is so great, so nice, and all she likes to do is exchange baby pictures. Today she just brought in homemade cookies for everyone that all have pictures of our characters from the show. We’re coming to the end. So everybody’s starting to bring in their gifts from home. She’s just lovely, warm, generous, the sweetest, loveliest person you could possibly imagine.

That’s great to hear. I was a huge Buffy fan. Speaking of Halloween and the ’90s, I dressed as Buffy the Vampire Slayer probably for 10 years running.

We have people on the crew that wear the Buffy shirts, and they’re pretty excited. As am I, I mean, I think she’s great. I’m gushing a lot, but I genuinely feel that. Also, Patrick Gibson is wonderful as Dexter. It’s not an imitation, it’s his own thing, but it’s a wonderful representation of the character. There have been moments where I have looked up at Gibson and thought, ‘Oh my God.’ It’s like he’s at times possessed with the spirit of Dexter.

My relationship with Patrick while making the show has been just fantastic. I mean, he’s just a real guy’s guy, and it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of fun. You make these kind of shows that are dark and gory, and this is sort of how it was on Heathers too, you spend a lot of time laughing in between the takes because it’s just so hilarious and so crazy.

When you’re doing these kinds of darker shows, you really do have to find the humor as you’re making it. I find those particular moments to be rather funny. I find that even when I get scared, I don’t scream, I laugh. I’m more of a laugher when I get scared.

Is that a problem when you’re acting at all? Especially on a dark show?

It’s making me think that I should have been the Joker or something. I mean, my God, that’s kind of a weird thing. I’m just thinking about it right now. But no, I haven’t burst out laughing unless I screw up a line or that sort of thing. When we’re doing the scenes, we’re taking it seriously and we’re doing the best we can.

Dexter: Original Sin will premiere on Paramount+ on Dec. 13 and air on Showtime on Dec. 15. You can learn more about it here.