The limited series of ‘Dexter’ will be filmed in Massachusetts

Don’t look now, but “Don’t Look Up” is about to join another major Hollywood production in Massachusetts.

Showtime’s revival of its award-winning drama “Dexter” will be filmed in Massachusetts, with production scheduled to begin in late January and should continue until July, according to a source familiar with the production.

Showtime, which first announced the 10-episode limited series revival in October, will primarily film “Dexter” west of I-495 in local cities, including Gardner, Lancaster, Sterling and Worcester, the source said.

Gardner’s film representative and purchasing director, Joshua Cormier, confirmed that the city had been involved in discussions in the past two and a half months about filming scheduled to take place at various locations in Gardner in the first half of 2021, but declined to provide more information details.

Gardner previously served as a major filming location for the second season of Hulu’s Stephen King anthology series, “Castle Rock”, in 2018.

“The city of Gardner has always been very, very willing to work with the film industry,” said Cormier. “We saw it through a range of small and large productions, and each one provides an economic boost that we wouldn’t see otherwise, which means a lot to small businesses, especially now.”

A Showtime representative did not return a request for comment.

Originally aired for eight seasons and 98 episodes from 2006 to 2013, “Dexter” starred Michael C. Hall (“Six Feet Under”) as Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter analyst at the Miami Police Department who lives a double life as a vigilant serial killer. At the end of the original series, which was widely criticized by critics, Dexter feigned his own death and left Miami, starting a new life working for a logger in Oregon.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Hall said that having a chance to give “Dexter” a new ending appealed to him.

“Let’s be realistic: people found that the program left things quite unsatisfactory, and there was always hope that a story would come up that was worth telling,” said Hall. “I include myself in the group of people who ask themselves, ‘What the hell happened to that guy?’ So, I’m excited to get back to that. I never had this experience of playing a character so many years later. “

While Hall will repeat his titular role in the revival, it is not known whether regulars for the show’s first eight seasons like Jennifer Carpenter (“Quarantine”), David Zayas (“Skyline”), CS Lee (“True Detective”) or Boston the native James Remar (“Sex and the City”) will join him.

The only other character announcement so far came on Tuesday, when TV Line and Variety reported that Clancy Brown (“The Shawshank Redemption”) will play Kurt Caldwell, the mayor of a small town called Iron Lake, who owns the parade Local trucks and the main villain season.

“Powerful, generous, loved by everyone – he is a true man of the people,” said a synopsis of Brown’s character obtained by TV Line and Variety. “If he is protecting you, consider yourself blessed. But if you upset Kurt or hurt someone he likes, God help him. “

News of a TV series just starting to be produced in Massachusetts is welcome for the local film industry, as the shows usually bring more stable work than film production. In 2020, two shows filmed in Massachusetts were canceled, with Hulu ending “Castle Rock” after two seasons and Netflix discarding its teen drama “The Society after a second season’s production was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dexter” is the third Showtime project to be filmed in Massachusetts in recent years: the cable network filmed the Boston set pilot episode “City on a Hill” in the Boston area and returned to the second season’s filming scenes on last year. The second season of the now canceled “SMILF” was also filmed locally.