The Ausiello Files: August 7, 2009

Scoop on eight hot shows

Comic-Con is not just for fans. Based on the massive quantities of scoop I accumulated during the four-day event, it's obviously for reporters like me. Read on and see what I found out about the upcoming seasons of...

Dexter
Though Showtime is committed to one season beyond the fourth (which starts in September), Michael C. Hall says the series must eventually die — ironically, of natural causes. ''[It's] like a shark,'' he theorizes. ''It has to keep moving forward. And if it runs out of things to eat, it's going to die.''

24
Freddie Prinze Jr. is the new Jack Bauer. Well, maybe. Kinda. Ever since Sarah Michelle Gellar's other half was cast as a ''junior Jack,'' there's been buzz that Fox is grooming the actor to succeed Kiefer Sutherland. ''I understand the question, but I have not put time into thinking about that,'' Prinze insists. ''I can't imagine anyone saying 'The following takes place between 2 and 3' besides Jack Bauer.''

True Blood
Series creator Alan Ball hints that the Bill/Sookie/Eric triangle that's such a major arc in the books is coming up, and soon. ''We definitely will see the beginnings of that this season,'' he confirms.

Bones
Remember the Booth/Brennan love scene we thought we were getting in the finale? Well, it's coming, for real. The only question is when. ''[The audience] wanted more, which is understandable,'' concedes Emily Deschanel. ''We probably have to give them something soon.'' Adds exec producer Hart Hanson, ''Yes, we have to deal with this.''

Dollhouse
Series creator Joss Whedon promises a new ''visceral'' look and new (also presumably visceral) guest stars (Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' badass Summer Glau), plus a lead character (Eliza Dushku's Echo) who starts questioning her surroundings. ''We want a wider audience,'' he quips, but ''we don't want new viewers...we just want the people who already watch it to gain weight.''

Gossip Girl
Kristen Bell, promoting her voice work in the film Astro Boy, shoots down reports that she's seriously campaigning to appear on screen among the prepsters. ''I like to tease [boss] Josh Schwartz a lot and tell him that if he doesn't put me on soon, I'm going to go to extras casting with a wig and just get cast as the waitress,'' Bell jokes.

Friday Night Lights
Adrianne Palicki, at Con promoting her apocalyptic thriller Legion, confirms that plans for her to do an arc next season that would give Tyra closure hit a snag when she was cast in the Red Dawn remake. ''I'm actually going to be shooting [the movie] during the fourth season,'' she says, ''so I don't know if I'm going back.''

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
The upcoming Starz drama — think ''Gladiator meets 300,'' suggests costar Lucy Lawless — features sex scenes that border on soft-core porn. ''I was a little traumatized by [them],'' admits the former Warrior Princess. ''I think of myself as a modern woman, but honestly, I went home and had to go straight to bed.''