Nearly a decade after the original series ran its course, everybody’s favorite serial killer returned for 2021’s Dexter: New Blood. Along with Dexter Morgan, two notable characters were also featured in the spin-off: Dexter’s deceased sister, Debra Morgan, and Angel Batista, the respected Miami Metro detective.
And a consensus has been reached in the Dexter fandom that the show fumbled a thirst-quenching reunion between the anti-hero and Batista— spoilers incoming!
Although brief, Captain Batista popped up in multiple episodes of Dexter: New Blood, including during the series finale after Dexter’s girlfriend and Iron Lake’s police chief Angela Bishop clocked Dexter as the “Bay Harbour Butcher,” a discovery he managed to elude during Dexter proper.
Chief Bishop got on the phone with Dexter’s former co-worker while he sat in custody. And after learning he was still alive a decade after his presumed death, Batista agreed to make his way to the New York community with the evidence the late Captain Maria LaGuerta compiled pointing to Dexter as the Bay Harbour Butcher.
But, before we got a fan-service meeting, Dexter was shot and killed by his son, Harrison Morgan, at the end of episode 10, the final chapter of the series.
Before Dexter: New Blood’s final credits rolled, Harrison drove his dad’s pick-up truck out of Iron Lake. It seemed like the perfect moment to cut to a shocked Batista approaching the deceased former blood splatter analyst. But, we never got that, and considering Dexter: New Blood followed in its predecessor’s footsteps of supplying a lackluster ending, disappointed viewers have been vocal on social media.
For example, a post titled “Why on earth didn’t they just give us the Batista scene!?” on the r/Dexter community on Reddit has received dozens of comments. “If nothing else, this would have made the god awful last 10 minutes acceptable to me,” the original poster wrote.
“Imagining Dexter’s shock if Batista walked into that interrogation room makes me so mad it didn’t happen,” another chimed in.
Heck, even the man who played Dexter — Michael C. Hall— wished it happened. “I’m with you,” he said at the Steel City Con in 2023 to a fan sharing the show’s misstep. “I think it would be cool to have some, this is not a pitch or anything that would ever happen, but some parallel universe where all the different possibilities are realized. I think that scene between Dexter and Batista would be pretty phenomenal, yeah.” Hall also revealed that the show’s writers never broached the subject of having the two on-screen together during New Blood.
And with Dexter kicking the bucket at the end of New Blood, it’s doubtful the scene between Dexter and Batista will play anywhere besides fans’ imaginations. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the next Dexter adventure will be a prequel. Dexter: Original Sin will show the character in college and is currently in production.
