SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points for the Dexter: Resurrection series premiere
Michael C. Hall is back as Dexter Morgan in Showtime‘s Dexter: Resurrection, having cheated death again and ready to slay more serial killer butt. The first two episodes are available to stream now.
The new spinoff follows the events of Dexter: New Blood, which ended with Dexter’s son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), shooting his very first serial killer, his dad. Dexter decided it was time he be taken out, having reemerged with his dark passenger, unable to release the monster inside. It’s part of the code, after all.
In the first moments of Dexter: Original Sin, it’s revealed that the titular killer had survived the attempt on his life and had been rushed to the hospital. The prequel spinoff, starring Patrick Gibson as young Dexter, follows the serial killer in training as he begins an internship at Miami Metro, where his father Harry (Christian Slater) is a respected detective. Dexter (Hall) explains in narration that revisiting his early years was his brain doing the “life flashes before your eyes” before you die. Original Sin was renewed for a second season following positive fan reception and record ratings.
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Hall decided to continue telling Dexter’s stories after the events of New Blood, halting justice once again.
“Like, Al Pacino and the mafia. It just keeps pulling me back in, I think,” Hall told Deadline this week when asked what it is about Dexter that keeps bringing him back to this universe. “When we finished the series proper and Dexter put himself into self-imposed exile, I knew we may well be revisiting him at some point to find out what the hell happened to him. When New Blood ended, I had a more definitive sense that it was the end, and I think the character did too. He thought that was a fatal gunshot.”
He continued, “But some time passed, and I casually injected in conversations with show creatives, like, ‘What if he didn’t die?’ I mean, he didn’t get shot in the head. It’s possible he could have survived that. And if he did, what would that look like? What storytelling possibilities would that afford us? The more I thought about it, and the more we talked about it, the more I was compelled. While Harrison didn’t kill him, there was something in him that he could kill or do away with if Dexter could finally put down the burden of his penance and be lighter with this second chance at life. And what would that mean? Would he be able to do what I think he does in this season, reclaim himself, and that just became increasingly interesting. Then writers came up with an idea of this gathering that he might come upon, and plausibly so, given that he’s in New York City. It was too tempting to resist. I was like, ‘All right, let’s roll the dice and bring him back to life. Let’s do it.’”
Before Dexter can get out of his hospital bed, he is out of consciousness and, like Ebenezer Scrooge, is visited by three ghosts. First was John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell, the infamous Trinity Killer, Jimmy Smits as Miguel Prado, and lastly, Erik King as a very yelly James Doakes. Lithgow also appeared to Dexter in New Blood, but it was a first-time revisit with both Smits and King since their characters died in the original series.
As an OG fan of Dexter, seeing him interact with three of the most loved characters from the mothership series felt like a homecoming of sorts. This is especially true in Dexter: Resurrection, a lighter option than New Blood but not quite the blue skies in Original Sin.
“That it was pure joy for an OG fan is a big part of why I was so excited when I saw it. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna resonate, and it shows just how rich the mythology of the show has grown to be.’ It was amazing seeing those guys and doing scenes with them, so many years since we started. It was incredible,” he shared.
“You know, I think it reveals just how populated Dexter’s interior landscape is. I think those guys showed up in that sort of fever dream place, when Dexter was between alive and dead. You can never say never with the show in terms of the rules of the universe and the people who can emerge. But the abiding people from the original show are James Remar and David Zayas, you know, Harry and Batista. It was so amazing to reconnect with those guys and play scenes with them, with all the history that we share and the affection we have for one another. It was a blast,” Hall continued.
The most shocking reunion, however, was between Dexter and Batista, former close friends and colleagues who now shared an awkward hug and a Cuban sandwich in a brief respite from the tension that would follow. Batista reveals he had received a call from Dexter’s girlfriend, Iron Lake Police Chief Angela Bishop (Julia Jones), who told him she suspected her boyfriend, known as Jim Lindsay in New Blood, was the Bay Harbor Butcher. Although she later rescinded what she said, it was too late for Batista. His ex-wife in Dexter, Maria LaGuerta (Luna Lauren Velez), had similarly suspected the same before she was murdered. For Batista, who does not know for certain that his old friend was behind Maria’s death but suspects it, it’s a coincidence too far.
“Batista and Dexter, way back when, were friends. Batista was as close to a normal friend as Dexter ever had, and someone he’s always been incredibly fond of because of his integrity, his honesty, and he’s a rock. One of my favorite scenes I’ve ever played is the scene in the first episode of this season where Batista shows up in Dexter’s hospital room. It was just so rich and complicated. There is so much water under the bridge, and this cat-and-mouse dynamics. But it was also just so bittersweet, these guys who used to have this simple connection, everything’s just fraught with complication and suspicion now. I think Dexter is really fond of Batista in a way that he isn’t otherwise even convinced he’s capable of being fond, like he loves the guy in his way. He desperately wishes Batista would walk away. But knowing Batista, I think he suspects that he won’t, and so that’s dicey. That’s all I’ll say,” Hall teased about what’s ahead between Dexter and Batista.