Why The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger Was Missing From Dexter: Resurrection Season 1’s Boogeyman Club Clarified By Gabriel Luna

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Dexter: Resurrection season 2, episode 3.EXCLUSIVE: Dexter: Resurrection season 2 is introducing even more danger.

The Dexter franchise has introduced many villains over the past 20 years, some of whom have made a lasting impact on Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall) and the audience. The spinoff series Dexter: Resurrection has brought many new faces into Dexter's life as the streets of New York are littered with menacing serial killers. A new addition came in season 2 with Gabriel Luna's character, The Sleepy-Eyed Strangler.

Dexter: Resurrection season 2 saw the introduction of Luna's character named Ray Ballard, who is a menacing serial killer that sneaks into his victims' homes while they are asleep and rearranging furniture to make them paranoid until the moment he strikes. In an interview with ScreenRant's Tatiana Hullender, Luna dives deeper into who his character is and the reasons as to why The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger was missing during season 1's introduction of the Boogeyman Club.

ScreenRant: In episode 3, Dexter notes, “I’m starting to see why he didn’t get invited back.” Why do you think Ray was missing from Prater’s Boogeyman Club meetings from season 1?

Gabriel Luna: I think he doesn't know how to deal with people. He doesn't like people. The backstory that I was trying to build was that he was hurt, so it was the idea that hurt people hurt people.

In all the research I'd done about serial killers for Devil in Disguise, it's always that somebody hurt them in their childhood - probably a mother or father - and they end up in this suspended state of arrested development. That's what I wanted to establish for Ray; that he's stuck as this 12-year-old preteen who was hurt at that point.

He probably didn't get invited back because he doesn't play well with others. He's just always arguing with Dexter, and he's just annoyed. He's always bristling and going to his room like, "I don't want to talk to any of you people." That's probably what it was.

But for somebody who's been inactive and lying in wait, it was only a call from Prater that would reignite in him this need to impress somebody, and this need to see this father-like character who's going to give him a gold star for his report card.

Leon Prater (played by Peter Dinklage) was one of the main antagonists during Resurrection season 1 and presented himself as a wealthy capitalist and a philanthropist. However, he had a secret collection of serial killers, including a trophy room filled with memorabilia of those killers and their victims. The Boogeyman Club brought together a secret society of serial killers, leading to Dexter's infiltration after the murder of one of the participants, Ronald Schmidt.

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Luna explains how his character Ray is introverted, which is apparent during Dexter: Resurrection season 2, episode 3, when Dexter begins questioning the killer about his life and Ray appears combative and secretive. During the Kill Room, Luna's character describes how relationships can make someone weak and, therefore, joining a club to form alliances and friendships wouldn't mesh well with Ray's own mottos and philosophies.

The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger had a truly devastating and terrifying modus operandi as shown in the series. Now, Dexter continues to hunt serial killers paraded by Prater in the hopes of making New York City safer and making those who have escaped justice face the haunting Kill Room.

It's unclear what the future holds for Dexter: Resurrection season 2, as more serial killers are entering the scene, including Dan Stevens' character The Five Borough Killer. Dexter Morgan continues to hunt serial killers, and season 2 is guaranteed to get even darker as more horrors are unveiled.

Dexter: Resurrection season 2, episodes 1, 2, and 3 are available to watch on Paramount+ now.