Original Sin Star Molly Brown on Portaying Young Debra Morgan

This week, as the Eras Tour wrapped its final leg after two years of shows across the globe, Taylor Swift fans have been taking to social media to reflect on their favorite moments of the monumental tour — and, often, to remind people that they went to the Eras Tour. Molly Brown, star of the forthcoming series Dexter: Original Sin, went to the show, too (Paris, nights two and three). She’s as yet refrained from seizing the opportunity to remind her followers about it, but the actress has what just might be the best Eras stour of them all.

Brown found herself in France a few weeks after a seemingly successful stint of auditions to play a young Debra Morgan in the Showtime prequel and knew that word on her potential hiring would be coming soon. “I’d been trying to build good karma for myself that whole week,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter of her time in Paris.

She also instructed her manager not to call with bad news, only good news. “Then, it was during the song ‘Karma’ that my phone rang. [My girlfriend and I] were in the general admission pit, and I showed her the call, and we ran out of the concert so I could answer,” she says. “We ended up going for the concert the next night, so I got to see what I missed.”

Brown, who has acted in guest roles on shows like Billions and Chicago Med, as well as a season-long arc on Evil, plays a spirited, occasionally unruly version of the character first portrayed by Jennifer Carpenter. Original Sin follows Dexter’s (Patrick Gibson) nascent days as a serial killer, and the series spends a lot of airtime on the Morgan’s home life (Christian Slater plays patriarch Harry).

Here, Brown talks to THR about preparing for the gig and meeting the franchise’s dedicated (occasionally rabid) fans.

So, you’re leaving the Eras Tour having found out that you’re going to be on the Dexter prequel; did you have any time to process the news?

I flew back to New York a couple days later and the First AD called me the night I landed and asked if I could get to L.A. the next day to start doing my first fittings. I actually couldn’t because my lease was ending, and I had to move out of my apartment, but I still started very quickly after hearing the news. I had to do all those fittings, and I had to get the first of what would be many spray tans.

Patrick [Wilson] talked about the showrunner doing a mockup of him with red hair to make sure he looked enough like Michael C. Hall to get the role. Did you have something similar with the spray tans?

It’s so funny because I’m an anxious person, and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. In my first fitting, the showrunner, director and producer were all there — and at one point [our showrunner] left the room, and I was like, “Oh God, I’ve left a bad impression and just lost this job.” I was thinking about how the Deadline article [announcing the cast] had just come out, and it was going to be so embarrassing. But I think what was actually being discussed was that I needed a spray tan. You look really different in those clothes when you have a Miami tan.

When you were working out how you were going to play Deb, did you go back and watch the original episodes to match Jennifer Carpenter?

I don’t know why I feel the need to emphasize this, but I really was a Dexter fan. It’s not bullshit. I was obsessed with it. But you don’t want to do a carbon copy of the original character because then it just seems like a poor imitation — that’s not how you make good art. I wanted to make the role my own. My way into it was actually her swearing. Anytime I got to say “fuck” in a sentence, I was like, “OK, I know Deb, and I know how she does this.” We shot our first scenes in Miami, and I did have some trouble on day one or two because I just kept getting caught up in hearing Jennifer Carpenter’s voice and worrying that I was imitating her. But luckily our director caught it and said something. He was like, “You as Molly are more than enough for this. Just be an actor.”

Have you met Jennifer?

I’d really like to, but I haven’t yet. I did get a note passed to me from her when I was cast, saying that I have her blessing, and she’s my biggest fan. That meant so much.

What were you like in high school, especially in comparison to Deb’s more rebellious side?

I got into a bit of trouble as well. I didn’t skip class, but Deb’s attitude is very close to what my attitude has been for parts of my life.

Did you and Paddy have to do anything to get to know each other in a way that allowed you to play siblings?

He might say something different (laughs), but I felt so immediately comfortable with him. I feel lucky that he’s genuinely a really cool guy. He’s someone that I would be happy to be friends with independent of this show. I do have an actual brother, too, and he did a background role in the pilot. There’s a scene at a volleyball game, and I set my coat down on the bleachers to save a set for Dexter and tell someone to move over. That someone is my real-life brother.

As you’ve been interacting with this show’s fandom, what has your impression been especially compared to any expectations you might have had?

I knew there would be people who didn’t want to see anyone other than Jennifer play this role. And I understand that. So before going to Comic Con, where we were introduced to the fans for the first time, I was really nervous. But the experience of walking out on that stage and seeing thousands of people cheering was surreal. There were people who printed off photos of me to sign. One was an old headshot that I’d never seen in print before. People are clearly excited about it, and it’s a nice surge of energy to get.

Dexter: Original Sin premieres on Dec. 13.