During the Season 5 finale of “Dexter” (and, yes, there are spoilers ahead), Julia Stiles’ avenging (ahem) angel Lumen walked away from her partner in crime, leaving the show and our favorite serial killer’s heart in tatters.
No, Dexter didn’t take the breakup well. Neither did Stiles. We talked to the actress, a freshly minted Emmy nominee, who snagged a nod for her seasonlong guest spot on the Showtime series, while she waited for a flight at LAX.
AT: So … Lumen breaking up with Dexter caught you off guard?
J.S.: I was very surprised. I thought everything we had been building toward over the course of the season -- the trust and connection between Lumen and Dexter -- was just thrown away. I had a hard time understanding that. Their vigilante justice was so romantic in a perverse way.
'Lumen', played by Emmy-nomintaed Julia Stiles's ending on Dexter Season 5 felt sudden and weird.
It was said to be done ultimately if not especially deftly, to to serve the Dexter character in season 7. I felt though that time was wasted and talent squandered, especially if Stiles were willing to stay on in to Season 6... and it sounds as if she would have.
I liked Dexter & Lumen together, maybe not forever but a bit longer that they were. That aburpt Season 5 ending felt staged.
Gossip has it that another reason the Lumen character was seemingly given the bum's rush was personal--the breaking down of Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter's marriage over the filming of season 5. Julie Stiles ultimately issued a statement to the press expressing distress in having to even make the statement but feeling the need all the same to say NO, she was not dating Mr. Hall. NOW Stiles saying it makes even more sense since the rumours came to a boil at the end of Dexter Season 5 and Stiles would have known quite positively of her character's story arc at that point.
Guess the show-runners did not want Dexter to get into another Rita-like sitch despite the fact that Rita vs. Lumen =a huge disparity...and they'd have had different places to go...still could have had Dexter return to ultimately being a loner.
but season 5's Lumen succumbing to her demons and then turning tail and leaving was just too sudden to feel natural. It felt forced. One of the most ham-handed episodes of Dexter ever shown, perhaps.
Now to read what the most excellent Stiles had to say... (see LATIMES link ABOVE)
After the jump... Behind the Scenes: Dexter Season 6 [VIDEO]:
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