'Dexter' Star David Zayas on That 'Resurrection' Game Changer and Why His Nearly 20Year Run as Angel Is 'The Best Job I've Ever Had' Hunter IngramAugust 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for "Touched by an Ángel," the ninth episode of "Dexter: Resurrection," now streamin...
- - 'Dexter' Star David Zayas on That 'Resurrection' Game Changer and Why His Nearly 20-Year Run as Angel Is 'The Best Job I've Ever Had'
Hunter IngramAugust 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for "Touched by an Ángel," the ninth episode of "Dexter: Resurrection," now streaming on Paramount+.
David Zayas just played out the brutal death of a character he has embodied for nearly two decades, and yet, he's rather hopeful about his future in the "Dexter" universe. After all, death is just another character trait in the world of everyone's favorite serial killer.
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In the penultimate episode of Season 1 of Paramount+'s, "Dexter: Resurrection," Angel Batista, the former Miami Metro Police Chief and one of the few remaining original characters still breathing from the 2006 series debut of "Dexter," let the crusade of capturing his former friend Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) get the better of him, and paid the price that so many — including his ex-wife María LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) and former colleague James Doakes (Erik King) — paid before him. In a tragic but not exactly unforeseen showdown, Batista was killed because of (but not at the hands of) Dexter. Still, he used his final breath to make sure the charming killer knew who bore the guilt: "Dexter Morgan, fuck you."
Zayas tells Variety he knew from the beginning of "Resurrection" that it would be Batista's final act, closing out an impressive run as the only character other than Dexter to appear across the ever-growing "Dexter" franchise of shows ("Dexter," "Dexter: New Blood," the recently canceled prequel "Dexter: Original Sin" and "Resurrection"). Despite ending his streak, Zayas was supportive of the decision, in part because he isn't all that worried about never showing up again in Dexter's life –– or at least his mind.
"You don't have to be alive to be on the show," he says, referring to Dexter's habit of communicating with the hallucinations of his deceased family, friends and victims. "So there's always that window that keeps me with a positive outlook, because I would be a part of the 'Dexter' universe in any capacity. It's been the best job I've ever had."
In the lead up to his tragic end, the episode found Batista more desperate than ever to nail Dexter as the Bay Harbor Butcher, having suffered a few setbacks in recent episodes. First, the NYPD learned he is no longer the Miami Police Chief, but rather playing out an unsanctioned manhunt for Dexter — something that forced him to surrender his beloved badge. Then, he put himself in a position to be framed for Dexter's crimes. But most fatally, he stumbled right into the complicated web woven between Dexter and philanthropist/serial killer connoisseur Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) and his henchwoman Charley (Uma Thurman). Thinking he was warning the gruesome twosome about their association with Dexter, they had in fact already figured out he's not the Dark Passenger killer he's been impersonating. So they kidnap Batista and strap him to Dexter's signature kill table (sans the Saran Wrap) to force the famed Bay Harbor Butcher to perform live in person.
But in keeping with his (admittedly wobbly) code and their shared history, Dexter can't kill Batista and instead manages to cut him loose. But Batista meets that mercy with fury, trying to strangle his enemy/savior until Prater litters him with bullets.
Dexter uses their final moments together to assure Batista that he didn't kill María and Doakes, but Batista doesn't care. His terse sendoff denies Dexter the satisfaction of closure and forgiveness, shattering his former colleague's world before shuffling off it. But Zayas wasn't immediately sold on those being Batista's dying words.
"To be honest, the first time I read the script, I said, 'I don't know if I want to say this,'" Zayas recalls. "But then I realized this has to be it. It's not necessarily just about you. It's about progressing the story of 'Dexter: Resurrection,' and what comes next for Dexter. Not every actor is lucky enough to get such meat on the bones of a character that they could really sink their teeth into. I appreciate it in many ways, which is odd to say, but it really gave my character a button at the end of his life that I think works. After I said that, that part of me that questioned it now hoped they wouldn't change it because it's a great way to throw a wrench into that story."
Indeed, it does shake Dexter's world view. "There's no coming back from this," Dexter's narration ponders, referring in the moment to Angel's bloody condition. But it might as well be a forecast for what's to come in Dexter's world. Now trapped in Prater's creepy vault of horrors with the dead body of possibly his last friend doesn't bode well for New York's newest UrCar rideshare driver.
Zayas, meanwhile, felt Batista's death not only made for good TV but was justified because —let's be honest — how much longer could this really go on?
"If you notice at the end of Episode 7, he's in the car and Dexter tells him, 'If you know who I am, this is not going to end well for you,'" Zayas says. "Batista understands that. I understand that. But he's already passed the point of no return, and so that's where it ends up. Either he was going to get Dexter or he was going to go out like this."
Yet, despite his final chapter being fueled by reckless revenge, Zayas has still spent time reflecting on why Batista has resonated –– and frankly, survived –– for as long as he did when others have fallen victim to the darkness of Dexter's pull. Batista got there, too, but Zayas admires what he held onto for a long time before it got him.
"I used to be a police officer, you know, and the one thing I identified was that this character was not going to be cynical," Zayas says. "He's going to fight for the good in people. He's going to be a positive model for what I feel a cop should be. So this last season, everything has been turned upside down because none of that works for him now. It's almost like he's not innocent anymore. He's been jaded, and for Batista, that's a big deal."
Looking beyond this moment, Zayas, who is gearing up to promote this fall's "The Running Man" remake, is just grateful he got to live in Batista's cool charisma one last time. He thought he was done after the original series ended, and was even more surprised when he got called up for a few episodes of "New Blood," coming in just in time for Dexter's son Harrison (Jack Alcott) to gun down dear old dad. But for Zayas, it was "Resurrection," shot on his home turf of New York City, that feels like a poignant and proper end to his fedora-wearing alter ego.
"I'm so glad that Dexter survived that gunshot by Harrison," Zayas says with a laugh. "It worked out well for me."
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