Worcester hotel has another close-up, this time in a recent 'Dexter' episode

Not only did Dexter’s present and past collide in a big way on Sunday’s episode of “Dexter: New Blood” on Showtime, the collision happened in downtown Worcester.

In one key scene, the action unfolded at a law enforcement conference being held at a Holiday Inn in New York but, actually, this pivotal scene was filmed in May at the AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester, 125 Front St., in Worcester.

AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester’s general manager Mary Simone said she started getting calls as soon as the episode aired Sunday night.

“Everyone kept texting me, going, 'You look great.' I’m going, 'What do you mean I look great?' I thought they were talking about me. I was in a pair of sweatpants. I’m wondering where did they see me? Then I realized, 'Oh, my God, (they’re talking about) the hotel,'” Simone said. “I was told it was going to be on in December but I thought it was going to be Dec. 12. So when people started telling me, 'You look great. You were on.' I was like, 'Oh, OK. So it was a week earlier.'”

For the multilayered episode, David Zayas returned as “Dexter” fan favorite Miami Metro Homicide Division Capt. Angel Batista and he crosses paths with Julia Jones, who plays Angela Bishop, the police chief of Iron Falls, New York. Jones is also the girlfriend of everybody’s favorite fictional serial killer and forensic blood splattering expert, Dexter Morgan, who is living in a log cabin under the alias of Jim Lindsay.

Zayas appeared on all eight seasons of “Dexter” and his character was one of the few to live to tell about it.

Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter Morgan/Jim Lindsay, did not appear in the scenes filmed at the hotel.

On Sunday’s episode of “Dexter: New Blood,” Batista speaks to a crowd at a law enforcement convention. After his remarks, Chief Bishop approaches the veteran homicide cop for some advice regarding evidence in Iron Lake’s missing women case.

“Listen to your gut,” Batista instructs. “You find out the 'why.' You’ll find out the 'who.'”

Batista also spills enough references to previous "Dexter" storylines making Chief Bishop q `` start to wonder who her boyfriend really is.

Awesome to work with

Simone said the “Dexter: New Blood” cast and crew were awesome to work with.

“They literally transformed these areas and everything was back in one day. We were back up and running all in one day,” she said. “They even took the ACs off of all the doors. And they brought designers in the next day and put the ACs back up.”

The law enforcement conference scene was filmed in the hotel’s ballroom, Simone said.

For the shoot, the hotel’s side courtyard behind 110 Grill was decorated with fake stage snow and meticulously handled by stagehands to make it look like it was filthy street snow sitting there for weeks and waiting for the first spring thaw.

“They had it in the very last salons, salons C and D, where you can see the outside,” she said. “So they put all (fake) snow in all my planters outside.”

The “Dexter” people also took over the hotel’s bar, reimagined it with skinny stools and a fully stocked bar of hard liquor, Simone said.

“It was during COVID and we said, ‘Wow, we haven’t seen this for a while.’ It was a good practice for us,” she said.

This is not AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester’s first brush with Hollywood. The downtown hotel was prominently featured in the Liam Neeson’s action flick “Honest Thief.”

Although renamed the Charleston Hotel, AC Hotel made a smashing film debut, both literally and figuratively, in “Honest Thief,” when reformed bank robber with “a particular set of skills" (played by Neeson), tackles a dirty FBI special agent (Jai Courtney) and the two go crashing through a three-story window of the hotel and fall to the sidewalk of Front Street below.

Simone said there are other film projects in the horizon for the hotel but nothing has been finalized quite yet.

“It’s great because it puts us on the map even more. More and more people will call and say, ‘Oh, wow, I saw it!’ and ‘Was that your hotel?’” Simone said. “We love when we get recognized as a city. We love when we get recognized as a hotel. And the movie and film industry has always been so good to us. So, keep it coming.”

Sterling sites pop up in scenes

But the AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester wasn’t the only Worcester locale that popped up on “Dexter: New Blood” this week. And a popular watering hole in Sterling could be seen as well.

At the 28-minute mark, Dexter is seen driving his 1995, two-tone Ford F-150 in the parking lot of The Crystal Bar, a local dive where one of the drug-dealers responsible for Dexter’s son overdosing at a party hangs out.

In actuality, The Crystal Bar is B-Man’s 140 Tavern at 344 Redemption Rock Trail (Route 140) in Sterling. The same bar was also used as Dell's for the latest remake of "Salem's Lot."

Inside The Crystal Bar, Dexter tracks down the neighborhood drug dealer and approaches him, pretending to be in the market for some drugs.

The two men go outside of the bar and Dexter is about to do his serial killer routine when the police arrive and he has to play the role of an angry, unhinged dad and starts punching away at the punk while concealing a drug-filled syringe in his pocket. All the time, the Sterling bar is prominently in the shot.

At the 38-minute mark, Dexter goes to pay a visit with neighborhood drug dealer No. 2 and waits for him outside his home, which, in actuality, is at 29 Colby St., Worcester.

Despite the scene filmed in May, the ground is covered with (fake) snow.

In one scene, you can see Dexter parked under the Interstate 290 overpass on Colby Street planning his next move while arguing with Debra Morgan, his dead sister (played by Jennifer Carpenter).

“This isn’t about the code or feeding your urges,” Debra scolds. “This is about vengeance.”

“Yup,” Dexter replies.

Before the show ends, police wearing camouflage armor and carrying assault weapons break down the front door of the Colby Street home during a late night raid and Dexter once again escapes unscathed to kill another day.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Showtime's 'Dexter' airs episode with a touch of Worcester