‘Dexter’ season 7 spoilers: Jennifer Carpenter sets up finale

If anyone is surprised that “Dexter” has lasted for seven seasons more than anyone else, it is one of the show’s prominent cast members who actually believed that the show was never going to make it past the pilot stage. Jennifer Carpenter is the first person to tell you that she is surprised by the success of Showtime’s quirky drama all about a serial killer and the people in his life, but she is nonetheless grateful for the opportunity to play a part that has overtaken several different phases in her own life.

Speaking as a part of a new interview with the Associated Press, Carpenter claims that she will be the “first to admit” that she a completely different person now than she was all the way back in 2004 when the pilot for this show first arrived in front of her. It’s a show has seen her character of Deb also evolve in a substantial way. If you go back and watch the pilot, she is a cop working in vice who lacks self-confidence and is afraid to make decisions; now, she is a confident lieutenant in Miami Metro … or at least she was until the stunning development that her brother was the person killing many of her suspects.

So could there, someday, be a shocker that manages to take Deb off of her feet more than the end of season 6 did? Based on her new comments, it sounds like it; and in addition to that, it could be coming before the end of this year:

“I hope when you are watching the finale that you are wearing socks you don’t like, because we are going to knock them off!”

Away from Carpenter’s funny statement, here is what we do know: the finale is going to take place around New Year’s Eve, and with the title being “Surprise, Motherf–ker” (a reference to the late Sargent Doakes), you have to believe that somehow, LaGuerta and the Bay Harbor Butcher case are going to be involved. This is bad news of the worst kind for Dexter, who is almost surely not going to be able to sneak his way out of this unless he pulls off another home run.