SPOILER ALERT: Dexter's New Season's Secrets Revealed

With Showtime’s runaway hit, Dexter, returning for a sixth season early this fall, producer Scott Buck revealed extensive details this week about the upcoming story-arc, outlining his bold vision of how the series will return to its “creative foundations." (Warning: heavy spoilers ahead!)

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Buck illuminated some of the shadows surrounding recent casting additions that have had online fans buzzing — Edward James Olmos, Molly Parker, Colin Hanks and Mos Def to name just a few of those set to cross paths with Miami’s most endearing serial killer.

Skipping forward a full year from season five — which scored big in terms of viewers, but wasn't as well-received as previous seasons — the show finds Dexter (Michael C. Hall) in a contemplative mood. “Dexter has always known what he doesn’t want to pass onto his son — his 'dark passenger' — but now he’s beginning to ask what he does want to pass on," Buck said. "So that’s forcing him to look around to see what else there is in life.”

It’s this yearning for something larger beyond himself that leads Dexter to the door of religious studies instructor Professor Gellar, who has a dark secret Dexter can certainly relate to. According to Buck, this season’s villain will expand beyond the now well-worn mirror to Dexter’s own demons.

“This is someone more in line with the Zodiac Killer … He kills people with great conviction. This is probably the first serial killer we’ve had who thinks he’s in the right,” Buck expanded.

As for the rest of the creative shake-up — the most extensive conducted in a single season break thus far, both in front of the camera and behind it — Buck details that Hanks will play Travis, an acquaintance of Professor Gellar, under the thrall of his intense charisma. Parker will play Lisa, Travis’ elder sister, while Mos Def takes on the role of a religious ex-convict, Brother Sam, who found God while in prison.

Clearly all too aware that the series had been steadily losing momentum to the point of spinning its wheels last season, Buck and his team are announcing their intentions to ring in the changes, as they once again look to do for downtown Miami what Jaws did for sleepy New England coastal towns.