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| Seacia Pavao/Showtime | Entertainment Weekly Exclusive |
Recently, Showtime announced that America's favorite serial killer's long-lost son will be back, and Jack Alcott will be the one who portrays him. Of course here on DexterDaily we already revealed that two months earlier!
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Alcott says that through his auditions, his character's name was 'Randall', and he didn't realize he was playing Harrison until his chemistry read with Michael C. Hall.
Read the full interview below, and beware of spoilers!
Entertainment Weekly: Were you a Dexter fan?
Jack Alcott: I had never watched an episode of it. I had friends and family members who loved it, but I had never watched a single episode. I barely knew anything about it. I was like, dude ... blood .... kills people. That was literally all I knew.
Entertainment Weekly: When the writers first met with you, did you want to know if Harrison would end up being a killer too?
Jack: I'm not even sure I put enough dots together to ask the question in the initial auditions, you know? My character was named Randall through almost all of the auditions. All I knew was that it was a series-long arc or something like that and that I was a character who had a meaningful interaction with Dexter. That was all I knew up until my chemistry read with Michael C. Hall. Then I was like, "oh my gosh, holy crap." Then I signed an NDA and they sent me another scene where my name was no longer Randall. It was Harrison.
Having not watched any of the show, I was like, "okay, so clearly this name change is important." I did a little bit of research and realized I'm his son. I started watching the show towards the tail end of the audition process when one of the executive producers called to give me tips on how to prepare. I was like, "I'm so sorry. I've only watched the first season. I've budgeted out my time and I've calculated seven episodes a day, with one day break, I will be able to finish all eight seasons by the time we start." He was like, "Do not do that, dude. You're Dexter's son. You weren't born so for you to not know what happens is going be an advantage to you as an actor."
Entertainment Weekly: I'm assuming that Harrison isn't too happy with his dad these days. He abandoned him!
Jack: It's been a long time and I haven't seen him and I've been looking for him. What I can say is that Harrison has had a really rough time for the past eight years. Like, it's not been great. He learns that his dad is not dead and goes to find him. That's what you see for the first two-thirds of the season, sort of intermittent sprinklings of me, this mystery stalker. It's me following him, trying to confirm his identity. I'm finally able to see him and confront him. It's just a heartbreaking scene and a really fun one to film. I mean, every single scene I got to do with Michael was just the coolest thing ever.
Entertainment Weekly: Do you find out who your dad really is?
Jack: The show is about developing our relationship and that we're two people who don't know each other and want to know each other. That's hard when there's been that much space, the circumstances of having that much space and the secrets that he keeps. That's about all I can say.
Entertainment Weekly: As an actor on the set, did you say, "I could be a chip off the old block? I see a potential spin-off here guys!" Is there a future for you at Showtime?
Jack: Not really. I've done very few things and my two biggest projects have been at Showtime. I would love to do more stuff with them, but that's never been on the front of my mind, whether or not this story continues.
Source: Entertainment Weekly