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Sarah Michelle Gellar is stepping out of her comfort zone for “Dexter: Original Sin.” The actor will play Tanya Martin in the upcoming prequel series, the forensics expert at the Miami Metro Police Department, Dexter Morgan’s new boss.

“I’m the scientist. You believe me as a scientist right? I do science-y things,” she said at Variety’s Studio, presented by Google TV, at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. This is the first time she’ll be working in a police department — but that’s not the only reason it’s so important to her.

“We’re playing in the 90s. I’m used to playing these formidable women and she’s no exception, but she’s almost an even bigger exception because women didn’t run departments in those jobs. They certainly didn’t run the science departments, and they certainly didn’t do it in Miami,” said Gellar. “So you realize she’s gotta be pretty tough to be able to hang with the guys, although it’s great for me. I’m on set all day long and I’m the only girl. It’s actually my dream job!”

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It’d be impossible not to point out that it sounds like Tanya would be a fan of another character Gellar played who was “pretty tough” too: Buffy Summers. When it’s brought up, her costars Molly Brown and Patrick Gibson get excited to hear the idea that Tanya watches The WB show after work, but the timing doesn’t quite lineup since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” didn’t premiere until 1997.

“Not ’til later because this is 91,” she says. “In the future — it depends on how long this goes! Then you’re really in the multi-verse!”

During the interview, the cast spoke about the recent resurgence of “Dexter,” which has topped the Neilsen charts in the last two months. The original series aired on Showtime from 2006 to 2013, followed by “Dexter: New Blood” in 2021, which picked up 10 years after the original finale. During Comic-Con, it was revealed that another sequel series, “Dexter: Resurrection,” will take place in present day, dropping in Summer 2025.

Additionally, it was revealed that “Dexter: Original Sin” will feature original star Michael C. Hall as the narrator. But, it will stand alone, even though it tells the story of how Dexter got to where he was when the world met him in 2006.

“It definitely compliments the original show but it also gives more insight into those characters… even Dexter didn’t know certain things had happened prior to him being born,” said Christian Slater, who portrays Dexter’s father. “It is ‘Dexter,’ but we are in our own universe here so we don’t have to do an imitation of anybody. We’re free to bring to it what we want to bring to it in order to make it original.”

Gellar quipped, “It’s the ‘Dexter’ multi-verse.”

While Gibson, who is portraying the young Dexter, has spent a good amount of time talking with Hall about the role, he’s been figuring out ways to bring his “own kind of flavor” to the part. Plus, Hall says, he’s handed over the reins completely: “This incarnation of Dexter exists before anything I did. It belongs to him — not that he needs me to tell him that.”

“Dexter: Original Sin” is produced by Showtime Studios and Counterpart Studios. It will air on Paramount+ With Showtime in December.

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Update: 2024-09-15

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