It’s officially official, folks: Dexter has run its course.  While producers of the wildly popular Showtime series had previously stated that they began season seven with the intention that the show would come to an end at the conclusion of season eight, the network had yet to publicly confirm an end date.  Now Showtime has confirmed that the upcoming eighth season of Dexter will in fact be its last.  The Michael C. Hall-fronted series continues to be a ratings draw for the pay cable network, but its quality has been a bit of a roller coaster over the past few seasons.

The first teaser trailer for season eight hinted at the titular character hitting a breaking point this year, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of endgame the producers have in mind given the events that transpired last season.  Yvonne Strahovski, who appeared in a multi-episode arc last year, is confirmed to be returning for this final season, so might Dex get a semi-happy ending after all?  We’ll find out for sure this summer when season eight of Dexter premieres on Sunday, June 30th.  Hit the jump to watch a sneak peek clip from the final season.

The first trailer for the road trip comedy The Guilt Trip has been released.  The film stars Seth Rogen as an inventor who sets out on a business trip with his mother (Barbra Streisand) in tow.  The trailer actually doesn’t look half-bad, with Rogen and Streisand showing off some promising chemistry.  There are a few solid jokes, and I appreciate the sweet emotional backbone that grounds the story in lieu of just having Rogen and Streisand go on a road trip with “zany adventures.”  Rogen’s familial situation isn’t uncommon (I can definitely relate), and it looks to be a nice foundation for the film’s story.  In the event that your family isn’t keen on seeing Django Unchained  this Christmas, The Guilt Trip doesn’t sound like a terrible compromise.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal),  the film also stars Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Scott, and Danny Pudi.  The Guilt Trip opens on December 25th.

Every previous season of Showtime’s Dexter has been positively packed with tension and season seven is promising to continue that trend.  For those of you who haven’t caught up with the show, we’ll save the spoilers until after the jump.  Let’s just say that Dexter (Michael C. Hall) was in a tight spot at the end of season six.  While this happens nearly every season, the current predicament hits pretty close to home.  Unfortunately, the new trailer is super spoilery, so only go ahead and hit the jump if that doesn’t bother you.  Dexter, also starring Jennifer Carpenter, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, C.S. Lee and show newcomers Yvonne Strahovski, Ray Stevenson and Jason Gedrick, returns Sunday, September 30th at 9PM on Showtime.  Hit the jump to see the bloody new trailer.

Actress Yvonne Strahovski joins Season 7 of the Showtime drama series Dexter, premiering on September 30^th, playing the mysterious Hannah McKay.  A woman with a dark part and secrets of her own, she meets Dexter (Michael C. Hall) because she’s helping the Miami Police Department on an old case.

While at the Showtime portion of the TCA Press Tour, Collider (along with one other outlet) was given the opportunity to participate in an interview with the ultra-charming Aussie about her transition from the more light-hearted Chuck to the darker and sexier material on Dexter, the nerve-wracking experience of being a guest on someone else’s show, watching all six seasons in three weeks prior to her starting work, and how badly she wants to get to say the F-word on camera.  She also talked about her work in the upcoming features Guilt Trip (with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand) and I, Frankenstein (with Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy), her favorite memory of her time on Chuck, and what she learned from the five years she spent in her first lead role on an American TV show.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

When we last left off with Showtime’s hit drama series Dexter, the titular serial killer was caught in a rather precarious position.  Though season six as a whole left much to be desired, the cliffhanger hinted that producers were taking the show in an exciting direction for season seven.  The upcoming season may or may not be the second to last installment of new episodes for the series (producers are keen on ending the series after season eight, but Showtime is hoping they’ll stretch things out to nine), so fans are hoping for some major developments in the new season.  The first poster and a batch of new images from season seven have been released, with the tagline on the poster offering a tantalizing clue as to where things may be headed.  Though a certain romantic subplot has me wary about how the story might play out, I’m hopeful that producers can bring the long-running series to a strong conclusion.

Hit the jump to take a look at the poster and images, which give us our first look at new cast members Yvonne Strahovski, Ray Stevenson, and Jason Gedrick.  Dexter season 7 premieres on Sunday, September 30th at 9pm EST on Showtime.

Howling fans of intrigue and murder packed Ballroom 20 today for a Showtime’s combo Homeland/Dexter panel.  We learned a new locale for Homeland, the dramatic thriller concerning a CIA officer (Claire Danes) and a soldier returning from enemy captivity who may be a threat to the U.S. (Damian Lewis).  And we also met a new face for Dexter.  The show, which will be entering its seventh season this fall, stars Michael C. Hall as the fan-favorite killer with a conscience.  Read more about terrorists and serial killers after the jump.

Showtime has released a short teaser trailer for season seven of Dexter featuring tons of never-before-seen footage.  The catch?  It all blurs by in about five seconds.  Try as I might, I wasn’t able to capture any images of the show’s newcomer, Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), so she may or may not be featured in the teaser.  People who are featured include Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee and Desmond Harrington. Obviously, if you haven’t caught up to the dramatic conclusion of the season six finale, you should steer clear of any of the following information as it contains heavy spoilers.  Dexter returns to Showtime for its seventh season starting September 30th.  Hit the jump to check out the teaser.

A new trailer for the seventh season of Dexter showed up just last week, and while there hasn’t been any new footage shown from the new season, it does hint at some big things happening between Dexter (Michael C. Hall) and his sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), especially following the cliffhanger ending last season. Hopefully we’ll get more of an idea of what this season will entail at Comic-Con next month, bot for now, we have some hints from executive producer Sara Colleton who not only details some of the plot points of the forthcoming seventh season, but also confirms that the eighth season will be the last for Dexter. More details after the jump.

We just learned that Showtime is bringing Dexter back to Comic-Con in San Diego this year, so you can be sure there will be a great new trailer shown that will hint at the problems to come for everyone’s favorite serial killer, Dexter, played wonderfully by Michael C. Hall. However, until then, fans will have to settle for this new promo Showtime just released. There isn’t any footage from the new season, but it has a whole new voice-over from Dexter complete with somewhat of a recap from the last scene of season six. It’s definitely a spoiler for those who haven’t finished the last season, so proceed with caution. See the trailer after the jump.

Everyone’s favorite serial killer, Michael C. Hall (as Dexter, of course) will be on hand to open up festivities for Comic-Con 2012.  The SHOWTIME panel will also feature a Q&A with Hall, Jennifer Carpenter and special guest, Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) who will be joining the seventh season.  Fans will witness an exclusive first two minutes of the season premiere, along with a new chapter in the animated webisodes, “Early Cuts: All in the Family.”  SHOWTIME will also screen a trailer for the second season of Homeland and will host a Shameless panel.  Dexter returns September 30th at 9pm on SHOWTIME.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

With the NBC series Chuck in her past, fans of Australian hottie Yvonne Strahovski may have been wondering what the actress might do next, and thankfully, it’s something a little more edgy and dark. The seventh season of Dexter is shaping up quite nicely with Ray Stevenson and Jason Gedrick joining the cast, and now  Strahovski has just landed a mutli-episode arc on the series as well which will have her working with everyone’s favorite killer of serial killers himself. Details on her character after the jump.

Paramount has made a welcome release date announcement today.  Director Robert Zemeckis’ (Back to the Future) long-awaited return to live-action, the drama Flight, has been slated for release on November 2nd (per Box Office Mojo).  Zemeckis has been making creepy motion-capture films like The Polar Express and Beowulf for the last decade, but Flight marks his first live-action feature since 2000’s Cast Away.  Denzel Washington stars as an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot who safely lands a damaged plane and is quickly heralded as a hero, despite having been under the influence during the accident. The fantastic cast includes John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Don Cheadle.  The film will square off against the R-rated comedy 21 and Over and Disney’s animated feature Wreck-It Ralph on that November date.

In order to put Flight on the 2012 release schedule, Paramount has pushed the family comedy The Guilt Trip (formerly My Mother’s Curse) from October 2nd to a prime Christmas Day slot.  The film centers on a mother/son road-trip and stars Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand.  The coveted December 25th date also includes Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.

So, after two weeks of talking about it, I finally caught Steven Soderbergh‘s Haywire. My thoughts? I was satisfied. Not blown away. Not shaking my head in disappointment. Satisfied. Soderbergh’s fight scenes were as beautifully executed as can be reasonably expected. In my opinion, though, there just weren’t enough of them. David Holmes’ score was fantastic when set behind said fight/chase/action sequences so, by default, there just wasn’t enough of it. The same could be said for much of the ensemble cast. In large part, their screen time was time well served. There just wasn’t enough of it to go around. So, do I recommend Haywire? Sure. As long as you go in with the expectation of seeing a slick action/thriller that is somewhat light on action and thrills. Now, onto business…

…After the jump, you’ll find that this week’s “Top 5″ is comprised of the 2012 Oscar nominations, interviews from our Chuck series finale set visit, a number of interviews for both The Grey and Man on a Ledge, and an ode to all of our 2012 Sundance coverage. A quick recap and link to each follows.

With the two-hour series finale of Chuck airing tonight on NBC, we can finally reveal that we were on set for the filming of that last episode, where we got to interview the cast and creative team about their experiences. While everyone was clearly proud of their work and time on the show, it was also obvious that they were sad to see it go.

During the interview, show creator/writer/executive producer Chris Fedak talked about how surreal it was to be wrapping up the last couple of days on the TV series, that the final two hours will play very much like a movie, that the finale will echo all of the past seasons, and that they believe it will be as much of an emotional experience for the fans as it was for the cast to shoot it. Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there might be some spoilers.

With the two-hour series finale of Chuck airing this week, we can finally reveal that we were on set for the filming of that last episode, where we got to interview the cast and creative team about their experiences. While everyone was clearly proud of their work and time on the show, it was also obvious that they were sad to see it go.

During the interview with co-stars Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin, they talked about how what is happening between Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Strahovski) in the finale is going to weigh heavy on people’s hearts, how they’ve done some really gross and inappropriate behind-the-scenes pranks, how hilarious the teaming of Casey (Baldwin) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) has been, and how they’ll be leaving with a lot of memories. Check out what they had to say after the jump, and be aware that there might be some spoilers: