James Remar Joins The Vampire Diaries as Papa Salvatore

James Remar, who currently portrays the father who knows best on Showtime’s Dexter (although he’ll always be “Ajax” to me), is about to join another clan as Giuseppe Salvatore, papa to The Vampire Diaries‘ bloodsucking brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder).

The casting news broke via TV Guide, to whom Remar described the elder Salvatore as “an aristocrat in the 1860′s of Italian decent. It’s the Civil War Era, and it’s about how he relates to his boys.” When asked if Giuseppe is also a vampire, Remar responded, “Not at the outset, no. But one of his boys has been bitten by the girl he loves.” Luckily for fans of the actor, Remar added that he believes his character will be seen in more than one episode.

Switching gears a bit, the interview ended with, of course, a little tease about the season finale of Dexter, which went like this:

Remar: “I have a big scene in the last episode of the season.”
TVG: “Which I hear is a very, very bloody one.”
Remar: “I can’t say anything out of respect to the audience. But watch!”

Oh yes, James, we’ll be watching — both Dexter AND The Vampire Diaries when it returns in January.