Who Is Doug Brightbill? ‘Gen V’ Star Hamish Linklater Dishes On Dean Cipher’s “Scrumptious” Plot Twist

Gen V just pulled the rug out from under its viewers.

Gen V Season 2, Episode 7, aptly titled “Hell Week,” reveals the actual truth behind Dean Cipher’s (Hamish Linklater) motives. It turns out that there is no Dean Cipher. Well, actually, the real truth is that Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater) has secretly been possessing a random man’s body to become Dean Cipher because he was too severely injured after the Elmira fire.

The big reveal happens near the end of Episode 7 when Polarity is finally ready to exact his revenge on Dean Cipher for Andre’s (Chance Perdomo) death. But, unbeknownst to Polarity, Marie (Jaz Sinclair) was downstairs healing Godolkin so he could help take Cipher down, which means he no longer had any need for Doug Brightbill.

Linklater praised the plot twist, saying switching from Dean Cipher to Doug’s character was like “actor haute cuisine.”

“It was delicious. It was scrumptious. And it was very, very yummy,” he gushed during a recent chat with DECIDER. “I have to say, it was just awesome. You know, that’s actor haute cuisine. You want to get to do that sort of stuff.”

Poor Doug! While begging Polarity to spare his life, Doug reveals his true identity, amongst other rather pathetic details that paints a sad picture about his life before Godolkin: He owns a cat named Buster who he lived out of his car with after he lost his job at Blockbuster.

“I don’t want to fucking die, please. He’s out of my head now, I just want to live because he’s finally out of my head,” he begs Polarity.

The big reveal clarifies quite a bit about Dean Cipher’s questionable relationship with the injured man he claimed to be his father. Now, it’s clear why he swung so dramatically from taking meticulous care of him to physically punishing the man. It was coming from a place of self hatred.

Cipher was even preparing to destroy Godolkin’s body just minutes before Marie arrived. Now, she’s accidentally unleashed a monster much stronger than she could have imagined.

But could this be the last we see of Linklater as Doug? Right now, Doug is the one person who knows Godolkin best – except, maybe, Sister Sage.

It seems like Linklater is excited to stick around, however. The actor told DECIDER that he was “thrilled” to join the show this season.

“I can’t believe I got to work with those actors as such a huge fan of the first season and such a huge fan of the universe and and how contemporary it is,” he said. “[I’m] just like, so stoked to be part of a show that’s having a conversation with the nation.”

The final episode of Gen V Season 2 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 22.