Dexter’s Julie Benz is Open to Returning as Rita in Season 9

Actress Julie Benz is willing to return for the revival of Dexter. Benz was introduced in the first episode of Dexter back in 2006 as Rita Bennett, Dexter Morgan’s loving girlfriend. Dexter dated Rita and eventually married her to blend in with society as he killed criminals in Miami. Just when things were going well for Dexter, Rita, and their three children, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) murdered Rita and left their son Harrison in a pool of her blood.

Dexter season 4 is often considered the best in the entire series, and Rita’s death was one of Dexter‘s most shocking moments. Dexter‘s series finale was also quite shocking, but not in a good way. Fans and critics alike hated how season 8 ended, and Showtime is hoping to redeem the show with Dexter season 9 this Fall. So far, season 9 has cast Jamie Chung as a true-crime reporter and Clancy Brown as the villain Kurt Caldwell. However, besides Michael C. Hall, none of the original cast members have been confirmed for the revival.

In a recent interview with TVLine, Benz briefly commented on Dexter season 9 while promoting her TV movie Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer. Benz said that she would be willing to return for the revival but doesn’t think it would make sense for Rita to appear. Benz’s full comment can be read below:

“I think Dexter has moved way past Rita. It doesn’t make sense for her to be on his mind as a ghost because she was only his cover. He didn’t internalize her, so there are no plans for Rita to show up. I would obviously do it in a heartbeat if they asked. But I’ve always said Rita shouldn’t make an appearance in his head because she didn’t know the real him. She didn’t know the Dark Passenger.”

As of late, there have been mixed reports on whether the Dexter revival is going to bring back some of the original cast members. James Remar, who played Dexter’s adoptive father for eight seasons, previously stated that Showtime didn’t ask any of the original cast to return and that he didn’t know what their plan was for season 9. Chung seemed to later contradict Remar’s comment by saying the revival has “a lot of fresh faces, but a lot of familiar ones.” It’s still unknown who will or won’t return in season 9, but with how anticipated the Dexter revival is, Showtime probably won’t confirm any returning cast members until the show airs.

While it might make sense to have characters like Angel Batista or Joey Quinn come back to effectively wrap up their stories, it would be more challenging to find a way to bring Rita back. Rita was never really a big part of the show after her death, with Dexter moving on to find other love interests like Lumen Pierce and Hannah McKay. It would make sense to bring Hannah back since she is currently with Dexter’s son in Argentina, but Rita returning in Dexter season 9 might do more harm than good if the writers don’t find a logical way to bring her back. That being said, it doesn’t actually look like Rita is set to return based on Benz’s comment.

Source: TVLine

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Christopher Fiduccia
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Christopher is a news writer, editor, and senior trainer at Screen Rant. He graduated from Rock Valley College in 2018 with an Associate of Arts degree and a Media Production Specialist certificate.

After running his own movie blog for over five years, Christopher joined the Screen Rant team in 2018 as a list writer. Christopher is a sucker for ‘80s horror and giant monster movies but has covered a wide range of topics during his employment at Screen Rant.

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