“Dexter” (and star Michael C. Hall and O.G. showrunner Clyde Phillips) returned to Showtime on Sunday when its revival, titled “New Blood,” launched to 2.2 million viewers across multiple platforms.
Of that projected tally, 866,000 tuned in Sunday via linear television. On-demand and streaming added 1.303 million viewers. In total, the estimated audience across those three forms of viewing was 2.169 million people.
That number makes the “Dexter” revival the most-watched Showtime title ever via the cable channel’s OTT platform on its premiere day Sunday, according to Showtime.
Additionally, the channel said the first episode of “Dexter: New Blood” was the most-watched scripted drama season premiere telecast among all premium channels so far this year.
The original eight-season run of “Dexter” premiered in 2006 at the onset of the “Peak TV” era, at a time when cable dramas led by male antiheroes like Tony Soprano (“The Sopranos”) and Vic Mackey (“The Shield”) were all the rage. Along with series like “Nurse Jackie,” “Homeland” and “Weeds” (another Showtime series getting a second life, albeit on Starz), “Dexter” helped Showtime emerge as a major player in the growing prestige-TV rush.
But following years of critical acclaim and Emmy nominations, “Dexter” landed with a thud when it aired its last episode in 2013, concluding with Hall’s character committed to a life in solitude as a lumberjack. It didn’t help that “Breaking Bad,” which featured another notable TV male antihero in Bryan Cranston’s Walter White, was wrapping up its own celebrated run at the same time.
Set 10 years after Dexter (Hall) went missing in the eye of Hurricane Laura, “Dexter: New Blood” finds him living under an assumed name in the fictional small town of Iron Lake, New York. Dexter may be embracing his new life, but in the wake of unexpected events in this close-knit community, his Dark Passenger inevitably beckons.
The 10-episode “Dexter” revival stars Hall, along with Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter’s sister Deb in a new iteration and Jack Alcott as Dexter’s teenage son Harrison, who mysteriously returns to Dexter’s life after 10 years. Other cast members include Julia Jones, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah and Clancy Brown.
New episodes of “Dexter: New Blood” air Sundays at 9/8c on Showtime.