Serial Boxes: John Lithgow to Play Killer on Season Four of Showtime's "Dexter"
In a rather surprising twist, John Lithgow (Confessions of a Shopaholic) has been cast in Season Four of Showtime drama Dexter.Lithgow will appear in all twelve episodes of Dexter's fourth season, which launches September 27th, and will play serial killer Walter Simmons, known by his sobriquet The Trinity Killer, one of America's deadliest murderers who kills in threes and masquerades as an "unassuming mild-mannered suburbanite."
Having relocated to Miami, Simmons will cross paths with Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan as Dexter assists F.B.I. Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) investigate the three-decades long crime spree of The Trinity Killer.
(Lithgow is no stranger to playing characters with psychotic tendencies; remember his turn as multiple characters in the 1992 Brian De Palma film Raising Cain?)
The full press release from Showtime, announcing John Lithgow's casting, can be found below.
SHOWTIME’S EMMY®-NOMINATED DRAMA SERIES DEXTER™
LOS ANGELES, CA – (May 27, 2009) – Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy®, Tony® and Golden Globe® award-winner John Lithgow will take on one of his most intense and intriguing roles to date portraying Miami’s latest serial killer in SHOWTIME’s top-rated drama series DEXTER. Lithgow will be featured in all 12 episodes of season four which are scheduled to premiere Sunday, September 27th on SHOWTIME.
Lithgow will play Walter Simmons, an unassuming, mild-mannered suburbanite who has been living a dual life as one of America’s most prolific and deadliest serial killers. Dubbed the “Trinity Killer” because of his proclivity to kill in three’s, he relocates to Miami after being tracked by F.B.I. Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine). Brought on to assist in the investigation of Miami’s latest serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) becomes fascinated with “Trinity’s” unique killing methods and his ability to evade capture for almost three decades.
John Lithgow is an actor with a broad range of interests and talents in every area of the entertainment industry. He has been working in show business since the early seventies, and has achieved stunning success in wildly varied ventures. He was nominated for Oscars® in back-to-back years for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment. For his television work he has been nominated for ten Emmy® Awards, winning four times, one for an episode of Amazing Stories and three times for his lead role in the comedy series 3rd Rock from the Sun. In that show’s six year run, Lithgow also won the Golden Globe®, two SAG Awards®, The American Comedy Award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1973, Lithgow won a Tony® Award for David Storey’s The Changing Room. Since then, he has appeared on Broadway nineteen more times, earning another Tony®, three more Tony®-nominations, four Drama Desk awards and an induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame.
One of the most acclaimed series on television, DEXTER stars Michael C. Hall (three-time Golden Globe®-nominee, two-time Emmy®-nominee) as a complicated and conflicted blood-spatter expert for the Miami police department who moonlights as a serial killer. The show has received both an Emmy® and Golden Globe® nomination for best television drama series as well as a prestigious Peabody Award in 2008 and was twice named one of AFI’s top ten television series. The show also stars Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, C.S. Lee, Lauren Vélez, David Zayas, and James Remar.
Season Four of Dexter kicks off on September 27th on Showtime.