Forget Doakes, Dexter’s Returning Actor Announcements Are Ignoring The Most Important OG Character To Bring Back After 15-Year Absence

James Doakes (Erik King) is returning in Dexter: Resurrection, but the most important character from the original Dexter series still isn’t confirmed to be in the sequel show. As Dexter: Resurrection‘s July 11 release date approaches, we’re learning more about the show every day. The cast of Dexter: Resurrection is quickly filling out with the likes of Peter Dinklage, Uma Thurman, and even returning Dexter characters like Angel Batista (David Zayas) and Harry Morgan (James Remar). Even dead characters like the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) and Doakes are set to return in Resurrection, and it looks like the sequel series will be a massive franchise reunion.

While there are plenty of characters from the history of Dexter having metaphorical resurrections in Dexter: Resurrection, one character has been notably absent from the casting updates. There are still plenty of major figures in Dexter’s life who aren’t confirmed to return for Resurrection yet, such as Astor and Cody, and Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan) outright said she won’t be involved (via Dexter Daily). Still, with all the figures from Dexter’s past set to crop up again in Resurrection, it’s extremely odd that Rita Bennett (Julie Benz) hasn’t been confirmed as part of the cast yet.

Rita Bennett Is The Most Important Character For Dexter: Resurrection To Bring Back In Hallucinations

Rita Is The Single Most Important Person To Both Dexter & Harrison & She Deserves To Confront Dexter About Her Death

Dexter: Resurrection is bringing back several characters who died in Dexter – like Brian Moser (Christian Camargo), Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), and more – by having them appear to Dexter as hallucinations. Since Resurrection is bringing back so many important people from Dexter’s past, it’s weird that Rita hasn’t been confirmed as part of the sequel series’ cast yet. She’s arguably the single most important person from Dexter’s past after Harry and Deb, yet there’s no word about her involvement in Resurrection.

If the idea of bringing all these characters back is to have Dexter confront the mistakes of his past, then Rita is definitely the most important person in that list. Rita was Dexter’s wife and the mother of his child, Harrison (Jack Alcott), and he also indirectly got her murdered by the Trinity Killer. Her death was indisputably Dexter’s single worst mistake in all of Dexter, and she should get a chance to confront the man she never really knew. It wouldn’t make sense for Dexter to remember the Trinity Killer and not also have to reckon with Rita’s memory.

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We also know that Dexter: Resurrection will at least partly focus on Dexter and Harrison’s strained relationship after the ending of Dexter: New Blood. Rita was Harrison’s biological mother, and it would be incredibly natural for Dexter to have visions of her while trying to reconnect with their son. He didn’t think of Rita when Harrison first returned in New Blood, but as long as Dexter is being haunted by ghosts (or the memories of them), Harrison may be enough to inspire a vision from Rita. The bottom line is that Rita is too important to too many parts of Dexter’s life to not appear in Resurrection.

Not Bringing Back Rita Was A Missed Opportunity In New Blood

Rita Could Have Added More Emotion & Depth To New Blood & Harrison’s Story

Honestly, Rita is so important to Dexter and Harrison’s lives that she should have returned earlier than Resurrection. Rita should have appeared in Dexter: New Blood, and the show missed a big opportunity by not having her back. So much of New Blood is about Dexter’s past and – more importantly – his relationship with Harrison. Bringing Rita back could have helped New Blood dive deeper into Dexter’s dark past and peel back the layers of his decision to abandon Harrison. The show didn’t take the opportunity, though, and New Blood suffered for it.

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New Blood also brought Deb back as a hallucination for Dexter to converse with, so it would have made perfect sense for Rita to also appear that way. Rita could have given Dexter some pointers about how to deal with their son, confronted him about how he caused Trinity to kill her, or any number of possibilities. It would have been so easy and so fitting to bring Rita back for New Blood, and Resurrection can’t pass up the same opportunity twice. Julie Benz has even said she’d be willing to reprise the role (via Dexter Daily), and Resurrection clearly doesn’t mind bringing back dead characters.

Rita Could Become Harrison’s Version Of Harry

Harrison Didn’t Know Rita, But His Idealized Version Of Her Could Embody Harrison’s Conscience Like Harry Did For Dexter

There’s another, albeit less likely, reason Rita should return for Dexter: Resurrection. A huge part of New Blood focused on how Harrison had a dark passenger of his own, and the trailer for Resurrection has already hinted that he’s going down a “dark path.” If Harrison inherited his father’s dark passenger, he may also have inherited the physical manifestation of Dexter’s conscience. That role was always played by Harry Morgan, but it would be a lot more fitting for Rita to act as Harrison’s conscience in Resurrection. Then she could interact not only with Dexter, but also the son she barely got to meet.

It may be tough to explain how Harrison sees Rita as his conscience, though. Harrison was still a baby when Rita died, and he was effectively raised as though Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) was his mother. Harrison probably only has foggy memories of Rita – he did have nightmares of her murder, after all – but he almost certainly knows what she looked like and has an idea of who she was. Dexter already saw an idealized version of Harry in his visions, so Harrison could see an idealized version of Rita in his. Hannah probably wouldn’t work in that role, given she was a serial killer herself.

With Rita acting as Harrison’s conscience in the same way Harry gave advice and guidance to Dexter, Resurrection could really become something special. Through Rita, we could dive into Harrison’s mind in a way we never have before. That would help flesh him out as his own character even more, and it would also highlight the similarities between Harrison and Dexter. There are just too many great narrative choices Dexter: Resurrection could make if Rita comes back as a hallucination that it wouldn’t be living up to its full potential if she’s not in the show.