John Cusack To Star In Upcoming Dexter Season 9

John Cusack is going to show up in the new season of Dexter. Here's all we know.

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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John Cusack has played a lot of roles over the years, but most of them are in the form of a brooding everyman who’s able to bring some comedic levity when the timing is right. His roles have been excellent, but often rather milquetoast. That could be set to change here and Cusack may get a chance to go face to face with a serial killer. That’s because recent rumors have John Cusack possibly starring in season nine of Dexter

The role they are targeting for John Cusack in Dexter would be of a wealthy townie whose son is constantly getting into trouble. From the character description, it doesn’t appear that Cusack’s role would be as a “bad guy” per se. But as we’ve seen with the show in the past, Dexter has a propensity to run afoul of both sides of the law. Considering his serial killer nature, he’s typically fighting off threats from multiple angles. Just because Cusack’s character wasn’t inherently evil doesn’t mean he couldn’t act as an antagonist. 

In the past, Dexter has cast some higher profile actors to play serial killers or law enforcement antagonists.  Sometimes Dexter needed to dispose of them in some way, other times it wasn’t so easy. Some examples include John Lithgow who was chilling as the Trinity Killer. But Jimmy Smits was a thorn in Dexter’s side as Miguel Prado. 

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John Cusack joining the cast of Dexter wouldn’t even be the biggest surprise for the show. That might be that it is returning for a ninth season at all. The Season 8 finale aired six years ago in 2014 and many thought it was the end for the show. After all, it involved Dexter essentially faking his own death and “retiring” from the serial killer rat race in the Pacific Northwest. The finale, “Remember the Monsters” was almost universally panned, a disappointing ending for a show that had been declining over the final seasons. 

But a few months ago, Showtime announced it would be bringing back Dexter for another season, picking up the story in Oregon where Michael C. Hall’s character moved and assumed a different identity. It’s unclear if his new season will simply be a coda to the original story, righting some of the wrongs of how it ended after Season 8, or if this will be something of a reboot in a new location. John Cusack’s casting could set up a longer run for the show with another big name attached to the series. 

Current timelines have John Cusack and Michael C. Hall hitting the screen together in early 2021. The story apparently picks up about eight years after the events of the original finale and presumably will have an almost entirely new cast. Of course, this comes with a stark location change and will almost definitely have a different feel than the bright sun and palm trees of Florida we had in previous seasons. 

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For Dexter fans, the show returning is nothing if not a major surprise. And there’s reason to get excited if bigger names like John Cusack are jumping on board for the new season.