5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Original cast member David Zayas plays a pivotal role in ‘Dexter: Resurrection'
Can vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan escape his dark past? Not on Angel Batista's watch.
David Zayas resumed his role as the Miami homicide captain earlier this summer in the latest 'Dexter' installment on Paramount+, 'Dexter: Resurrection,' with a hunch that his friend and former colleague might be the notorious Bay Harbor Butcher.
The second sequel series follows Dexter, portrayed by Michael C. Hall, as he begins a new life in New York City after surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound by his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) in 'Dexter: New Blood,' who also exhibits murderous tendencies. Batista appears at Dexter's bedside as a friend, though it sets off warning signals for the conflicted killer who takes off suddenly, setting up a game of cat and mouse.
'Angel Batista was a big-hearted, honest person with a lot of integrity [in the beginning],' said Zayas in a phone interview with The Times. 'If you were Angel Batista's friend, you were a friend for life.'
The former blood spatter analyst assumes a new false identity as the 'Dark Passenger,' another mass murderer, quickly gaining access to a serial killer dinner party, where he plots revenge on the most gory criminals.
But now halfway through the series, Dexter can't seem to shake off Batista; a once-trusting ally who has grown more dubious of his fragmented storyline.
'I did have love for him, so it's like he's trying to negotiate his feelings,' Zayas says. 'He's trying to calibrate what he's feeling.'
While Batista's signature Cuban fedora remains put — even in the frigid East Coast weather — his benevolent personality makes a drastic shift in 'Dexter: Resurrection' as traces of the Bay Harbor Butcher emerge at the Empire Hotel, coincidentally Harrison's workplace. The notorious Florida serial killer was known for meticulously dismembering his victims, hardly leaving a speck of evidence.
'With all the information that he kind of dismissed or didn't believe in the original series ['Dexter,'] now it's starting to become more true,' says Zayas, whose character growth shines through a star-studded sequel, which also features Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, Eric Stonestreet and Neil Patrick Harris.
There is one small wrinkle in Batista's plans: he has no jurisdiction over the case, which is now at the helm of New York detective Claudette Wallace (Kadia Saraf). Instead he is keeping track of details on his own, in hopes that the department will follow his lead.
'We all have that one case that haunts us, the one we can't let go of until we get it right. The Bay Harbor Butcher is that case for me,' says Batista to detective Wallace in Episode 6.
But could this pursuit for justice backfire on Batista in the same way that it did for his slain colleagues?
Fans of the the original Showtime series, which aired from 2006 to 2013, may remember the pivotal moments when James Doakes (Erik King) and María LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) were killed off — just before they could uncover Dexter's real identity as the Bay Harbor Butcher.
'[Batista] has gotta find ways to try and bring justice to what he's found out,' says Zayas, who is not far removed from his morally grounded character. The Puerto Rican-born actor was a New York City police officer for almost 15 years before turning to film, television and theater.
'It is easier for me when it comes to the technical aspect of law enforcement,' Zayas says. 'But as an actor, I could play 10 law enforcement officers, because I try to examine the human elements of each of those characters — not what they do for a living.'
With numerous credits dating back to 1995, Zayas has played eight different characters in the 'Law & Order' franchise, as well as in police procedural shows like 'FBI,' 'Blue Bloods,' 'NYPD Blue' and 'Chicago P.D.' He's also appeared in such films as 'Tallulah,' 'Annie,' 'Body Cam' and more.
The veteran actor also makes a brief appearance in three episodes of FX's 'The Bear' alongside his wife, Emmy-winning actor Liza Colón-Zayas, who portrays the role of Tina Marrero. 'It was a dream,' he says of the opportunity. The two met in New York City as part of the LAByrinth Theater Company, a traveling theater troupe; they married in 1998.
'When me and Liza read [the script], we were very emotional about it,' says Zayas, who plays Marrero's loving husband. 'This shows a side of a Latino couple that you don't see every day on TV.'
Colón-Zayas also made a cameo in Episode 5 of the original 'Dexter series' as Paloma Aragon, the mother of a murder victim, whom Batista consoles.
' We've always been supportive of one another. We've always held each other down and we've always told each other the truth and I'm her biggest fan and she's my biggest fan,' he adds.
Whether Batista might survive the dreaded fate of his previous colleagues, it might be too soon to tell. One thing is for certain, Episodes 7 and 8, which will premiere in the next two weeks, will change the course of the show as Batista doubles down on his crusade for justice.
