This week, we got the unexpected news that Dexter isn’t done, after all. Seven years on from its final season, Showtime is officially bringing the serial killer out of retirement, with Michael C. Hall returning to his most famous role. The revival will take the form of a 10-episode limited series set to air in 2021, but showrunner Clyde Phillips says that we shouldn’t be thinking of this as Dexter season 9. Rather, it’s more like “a second finale.”
Phillips – who will return to helm the project, after originally leaving the series following its fourth season – told THR’s TV Top 5 podcast that: “This isn’t Dexter season nine. … This was an opportunity to write a second finale for the show.” He also explained that it’ll take place a decade after season 8, which will allow them to essentially hit the reset button and pretend like the first series finale never happened.
“We basically do get to start from scratch,” Phillips said. “We want this to not be Dexter season 9. Ten years have passed – or however many years have passed by the time this will air – and the show will reflect that time passage. Insofar as the ending of the show: this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was – and it’s a great opportunity to write a second finale for a show, and Showtime was very gracious about that.”
Phillips’ comments are pretty encouraging as, if there was any show that needed a do-over of its final season, it’s Dexter. It’s widely agreed that it went downhill in its later years – after Phillips departed – but season 8 was especially poorly received. And the finale, specifically, is seen as one of the most disappointing conclusions to a TV show ever.
Last time we saw Dexter, he’d left his partner and son, changed his identity and taken up a solitary and reclusive life as a lumberjack. That ending has become the butt of countless jokes in the years since so, based on what Phillips is saying here, we probably shouldn’t expect much of a direct reference to Dexter’s stint as a logger. Setting it 10 years later means they can forget about the finale and not resort to retconning it away.
Dexter is due to start shooting early next year in order to make it on screens for the fall. Are you excited for the revival, though? Have your say in the comments section.