Dexter: Original Sin’s Sarah Michelle Gellar Talks ‘Tiny But Mighty’ Tanya Who ‘Teaches Dexter Everything He Knows’ — Watch

Sarah Michelle Gellar knows a thing or two about viscera. Or at least some of her past characters like Buffy Summers and Kristin Ramsey do. In Dexter: Original Sin, Gellar dives back into the world of blood as Tanya Martin, the CSI Chief of Miami Metro PD. Tanya explains to newfound intern Dexter Morgan that “spatter matters,” a bit of knowledge the serial killer-in-training takes to heart.

Gellar, a “huge” fan of the original series, tells TVLine that playing a new character that carries so much weight in the series’ lore was a big pull that got her interested in joining the Paramount+ With Showtime prequel. (Episode 1 is now available to stream; read our premiere post mortem here.)

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“Inadvertently, Tanya is the one who teaches Dexter everything that he knows,” the actress tells TVLine in the video above. Another enticing factor: “To continue a trend that I love to do, which is playing these women in men’s worlds. And to have a woman lead a department in the Miami Metro Police Department in the ’90s was so rare.”

That dynamic gave her plenty to chew on in the series that follows a post-med school Dexter as he navigates his next steps and stacks up his very first bodies. From the jump, the code is already in place and his dad Harry is alive (and played by Christian Slater). But Tanya — aka “the boss lady of forensics,” as Vince Masuka calls her — will be one of the primary colleagues that Dex will have to hide his extracurricular activities from. From here on out, blood is studied. Blood is shed. Blood is disposed of.

Despite all that crimson bodily fluid, Gellar explains that the role is different from those she’s played in the past. “She’s corporate. She is really breaking that glass ceiling that I really haven’t had the chance to mess with,” she says. “She’ll start to open up a little bit about what that’s like and how hard that really is. I think some other female characters are just accepting of the fact that they’re different in their responsibilities where she’s still pushing that mountain.”

One aspect that challenged the actress throughout? The science of it all. “That’s a lot of work… and words,” she jokes. “There’s a reason I did not go to medical school!”

Are you looking forward to seeing more of Tanya? Watch our interview with Gellar by pressing PLAY above, then let us know in the comments.

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