And baby makes three. That’s the message of the new promo poster Showtime released for Dexter’s fourth season.

The little bundle of joy pictured below is meant to remind us all that Dexter and Rita are expecting. What we won’t know ’till September is whether we’re looking at the Bay Harbor Butcher, Jr.

Dex will no doubt struggle with fatherhood and with the notion that his “dark passenger” may reside in his child, too. But hey, those spatters on the bib could just as easily be spaghetti sauce — couldn’t they?

That’s the beauty of Dexter … you never know when the show’s going to take a bloody turn. 

Actually, we know John Lithgow’s guest role next season will be plenty bloody, since his character only kills in threes.

Season 4 debuts Sept. 27. No worries, though. We’ll have plenty of Dexter info to keep us entertained next month when stars Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz speak to fans at Comic Con.

Image: Courtesy of Showtime

Dexter’s Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz will make a repeat appearance at Comic Con this year, Showtime insiders say. The pair, who play newlyweds Dexter Morgan and Rita Bennett Morgan, were a huge hit at last year’s event.

When Benz and Hall showed up at Comic Con last July, they took the opportunity to schmooze with fans, as Julie is in this video, and they dropped lots of hints about the upcoming season.

We’re hoping for another stellar appearance from the stars next month in San Diego, with tons of spoilers for Season 4! One thing we know that’s on the agenda: the unveiling of the new Comic Con exclusive Dexter “Dark Defender” action figure, which comes with fake blood.

Season 4 of Dexter drops Sept. 27, only on Showtime.

TV actress Courtney Ford will join John Lithgow as one of the guest stars on the next season of Dexter, playing a reporter who’s tracking the story of  Lithgow’s character, the Trinity Killer.

Ford, whose credits include guest spots on Ugly Betty, How I Met Your Mother, Monk and Cold Case, will appear on a multi-episode arc, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While her TV career is blossoming, the actress is best know to the paparazzi as the wife of Brandon Routh, star of Superman.

Ford also produced the 2006 indie film Denial, written and directed by Joel Kelly and starring herself and her husband as a couple whose seemingly perfect relationship unravels.

Filming for Season 4 of Dexter has wrapped. The series returns to Showtime on Sept. 27.

Image: Newscom

Looks like Dexter Morgan won’t be alone with his “dark passenger” in Season 4. Dexter fans who mourned the passing of DA Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) last season will rejoice at the news that Showtime has cast another actor with a terrific pedigree to pair with Michael C. Hall next season.

EW’s Michael Ausiello reports that John Lithgow will play Walter Simmons, “an unassuming suburbanite who has been living a dual life as one of America’s most prolific and deadliest serial killers.” Police call him the Trinity Killer because his victims come in threes. When Simmons moves to Miami, Dexter is drawn to him because of his efficient killing methods and his ability to kill without getting caught for nearly 30 years.

Lithgow has been better known for comedy in recent years (see 3^rd Rock from the Sun, Harry and the Hendersons, etc.) but he also has played his share of disturbed characters in thrillers such as Cliffhanger, Hollow Point and Blow Out.

Ausiello also drops another casting tidbit: Keith Carradine will return for Season 4 as Deb’s ex-boyfriend, F.B.I. Special Agent Frank Lundy, for several episodes.

Dexter returns for Season 4 on Sept. 27.

Image: Bauer-Griffin

We know Michael C. Hall has perfected the art of playing a likable villain as the titular serial killer Dexter. His next big role might not be so relatable. In Gamer, out this fall from Lionsgate, Hall plays the creator of an action video game in which the players control real people (convicts, in fact, who get out of their sentences if they survive an obscene amount of violence in the game).

Hall’s character, Ken Castle, justifies the game’s premise as a way for criminals to get out of jail free and smirks his way through daytime talk shows. That is, until Gerard Butler’s character, an ace player named Kabel, challenges him, as you’ll see in the following trailer:

The film also features Milo Ventimiglia, Alison Lohman, Ludacris, Kyra Sedgwick and Amber Valletta.

Julie Benz, a.ka. the newly married Mrs. Dexter Morgan, has another thriller on her to-do list this year.

In July, Benz will star in the based-on-a-true story movie Held Hostage. The Lifetime project is based on a book by Michelle Renee, who rose above her childhood abuse and life as a teenage runaway to become a bank executive. She was later stalked and kidnapped at gunpoint, held hostage for 14 hours and forced to rob a bank — all to save her only daughter’s life.

The story takes us into the court system as the state tries to prosecute her attackers, but the defense lawyers dredge up information from her past that could hurt the case against them — and damage her in the eyes of her daughter.

The film debuts on Lifetime July 19. Want more deets? Here’s the press release.

Image: Bauer-Griffin

When last we saw her, Jaime Murray was getting a knife in the ribs as Lila on Season 2 of Dexter.

Lila’s now stone cold, thanks to Dexter Morgan, her homicidal ex-boyfriend played by Michael C. Hall. But that doesn’t mean Murray’s acting career is on ice. The actress, shown here shopping in LA, has a hot date with NCIS in May.

TV Guide is reporting that Murray will guest star on the second-to-last episode of the series this season, playing Julia Foster-Yates, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who works with the NCIS team and rubs several of them the wrong way.

Image: Bauer-Griffin

If it’s the slice-and-dice action that you love about Dexter — and if you own an iPhone — you’ll get a kick out of the new video game app featuring Dexter Morgan.

Michael C. Hall lends his voice to the game, which lets you mete out your own vigilante justice on your iPhone or iPod Touch as though you were our favorite Miami serial killer.

Critics say the action doesn’t quite live up to the excellent voice work by Hall, but the game looks like it has promise, at least for killing time (no pun intended) when you’re on the subway or at the airport. Check it out for yourself:

What a busy year for Michael C. Hall. Dexter’s leading man married co-star Jennifer Carpenter, signed on for two more seasons of the Showtime series, and is making two movies.

Hall, shown here after dining at Kings Road Cafe in Los Angeles, will play one of the brothers in the indie film Peep World.

The movie is about a family whose plans to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday fall apart when they start fighting after one of the siblings writes a novel that includes thinly veiled versions of his brothers and sisters, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Rainn Wilson of The Office and comic Sarah Silverman are in negotiations to co-star in the ensemble comedy.

Hall’s other current film project is the sci-fi thriller The Game. The cast includes Gerard Butler, Alison Lohman, John Leguizamo and Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia.

The film is set in the future and focuses on players in a massive multi-player online gaming universe where people can control other people.

Source

Image: Bauer-Griffin

A Dexter action figure? Bif Bang Pow! made it happen. The 7-inch plastic version of Dexter Morgan comes in Dex’s traditional cargo pants and henley shirt kill outfit. The arms swap out to a short-sleeved version to wear with his Miami Metro laminate when he’s on the job.

“We’ve designed him so that he’ll be blood spatter expert by day, and vigilante by night… let’s just say he comes with a few ‘extras’,” says Bif Bang Pow! founder Jason Lenzi.

The Dexter figure comes with a knife, body bag and blood slide. It’s been approved by Michael C. Hall and by Showtime.

The action figure will be on the market in June and BBP expects to sell out of the first run. If you’ve gotta have one, pre-order now from Entertainment Earth for $16.99.

Image: Courtesy of Bif Bang Pow!