Dexter Revival Finds Its Big Bad, Taps Clancy Brown as Series Regular

Big Bads don’t come any bigger or badder than this: Clancy Brown is joining Showtime’s forthcoming Dexter revival as the primary villain opposite Michael C. Hall‘s titular vigilante, TVLine has learned exclusively.

The acting vet — whose antagonistic TV credits include Carnivale and Billions — will play the series regular role of Kurt Caldwell, the unofficial mayor of the small town of Iron Lake.

Per the official character description, Kurt “realized the American dream by going from driving big rigs, just like his father did, to now owning several trucks and the local truck stop. Powerful, generous, loved by everyone — he’s a true man of the people. If he’s got your back, consider yourself blessed. But should you cross Kurt, or hurt anyone that he cares for, God help you.”

It’s unclear if Iron Lake will serve as the setting for the 10-episode revival, which will pick up in real-time, AKA seven years after the 2013 series finale. The controversial closer sent Dexter into fake death-imposed exile in the woods of Oregon (perhaps near a small town called Iron Lake?!).

The Dexter finale’s poor reception is partly what led Hall to sign on to the revival. “Let’s be real: people found the way that show left things pretty unsatisfying,” he recently told The Daily Beast, “and there’s always been a hope that a story would emerge that would be worth telling. I include myself in the group of people that wondered, ‘What the hell happened to that guy?’ So I’m excited to step back into it. I’ve never had that experience of playing a character this many years on.”

Brown, meanwhile, joins an impressive list of actors who have played Dexter villains. Previous Big Bads have included John Lithgow, Edward James Olmos, Ronny Cox and Jimmy Smits.