Guest stars on Dexter have always been a good bit of entertainment and have provided a much needed depth at times that even Dexter, great as he was, couldn’t do all on his lonesome. If the show had only featured Michael C. Hall the pressure would have been too much for him, or anyone, to carry the show on their own. That’s why interesting guest stars were needed to provide a bit of cover at times that could help the show with that entertaining element of surprise and shock that it kind of needed sometimes. Plus it was fun to see some of the most despicable characters get waxed as they deserved.
Ever notice how a lot of guest stars in shows like this tend to be the bad guy?
5. Johnny Lee Miller
He didn’t stand much of a chance at being the big bad when he had to follow the guy that killed Dexter’s wife, but he made his character into the kind of male diva that everyone was just waiting to see get offed. Miller has played both the good guy and the bad guy in TV and in films and seems able to swing both ways in terms of his character. But what’s really messed up about how he goes out is that Dexter doesn’t even bother to do it, he allows Lumen to take over.
4. Julia Stiles
Lumen taking on the role of being Dexter’s protege and being allowed to take out her tormentor, Jordan Chase, was kind of like poetic justice in a way. Her character might have been better served if the writers had found a better way for her to go out, but as it stands she was one of the better guest stars, but with a very confusing and frustrating exit that left a lot of people wondering just what was going on.
3. Edward James Olmos
Olmos and the man who projects him as his imaginary friend, Collin Hanks, have both produced better work than this in the past. His performance was really kind of lackadaisical but to be honest just having him there tends to enrich the show that much more. He’s the kind of actor that can put forth half an effort and still make something a little more than it was. Unfortunately this time it was probably due more to a lackluster plot than anything else.
2. Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits has been in front of the camera for a good long while, but not in a role like this. Even in Sons of Anarchy he didn’t get this crazy, and as Miguel Prado he’s flat out nuts. As the ADA he’s supposed to be a man of the law but when he gets involved with Dexter all that kind of goes out the window as killing becomes his thing and the law no longer seems to matter unless it comes down to using it for his own purposes.
1. Ray Stevenson
Stevenson put up the most convincing and most challenging character to stand opposite of Dexter in any season. The way he went out was very anticlimactic but at the very least he was one of the more interesting guest stars to ever make his way onto the show.
Guest stars were kind of the backbone of this show in some ways.
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