Michael C. Hall is aware — very aware — that the end of Showtime’s “Dexter” is one of the most mocked and derided finales in TV history. And eight years later, he’s finally ready for a do-over.
“We left in a place that was very open-ended and admittedly unsatisfying for people,” Hall, who played the serial killer Dexter Morgan over eight seasons, told TheWrap. “It remained a possibility, from the day we ended, that we might return. But it was only this version that felt worth doing.”
Hall isn’t the only one returning. Clyde Phillips, who steered the show through its first four (and much more celebrated) seasons, is also back for Showtime’s new reboot, “Dexter: New Blood,” which debuts on Sunday. Phillips said he was persuaded by Hall’s readiness and a plea from the Showtime executive who brought the show to the network.
“First of all, Michael was ready. There’s been a couple of aborted attempts beforehand. The scripts weren’t right or Michael wasn’t really ready to get into it. And when Michael is ready and enthusiastic about something that’s a force of nature,” Phillips explained. Around two and a half years ago, Showtime’s president of entertainment Gary Levine (who was head of original programming when “Dexter” premiered in 2006) asked Phillips if he would have any interest in revisiting “Dexter,” and if he did, could he convince Michael to do it.
Ten days later, Phillips said, he latched onto an idea for “New Blood.” “I came up with something, went to New York, had a nice reunion with Michael, about 30 or 40 minutes. And he said, ‘You know what, I get it,’” he said.
In some ways, Phillips is picking up right where he left off at the end of Season 4, when Dexter’s infant son, Harrison, was found in a pool of his mother’s blood (Julie Benz) after she was brutally murdered by John Lithgow’s Arthur Mitchell, aka the Trinity Killer, in one of the most shocking season finales ever. It’s also the scene that many consider to be the show’s high point, as it was the first time one of Dexter’s season-long enemies got the the last laugh.
For Showtime, that 2009 episode was its highest-rated telecast in more than a decade, drawing 2.6 million viewers. Following Philips’ departure, “Dexter” trudged along for another four seasons with a rotating list of showrunners that included Chip Johannessen for one season and Scott Buck for the final three years.
“Dexter: New Blood” finds our antihero in upstate New York in the fictional town of Iron Lake, having done away with his serial killer past. That’s until a now-teenage Harrison tracks him down. “There remained certain storytelling possibilities that, having taken the time that we’ve taken, revealed themselves — namely, his son is full grown and almost a young man now. A story emerged that felt worth telling,” Hall said.
Along with Hall and a cameo appearance by Lithgow, Jennifer Carpenter’s Debra Morgan is back in a key role, though since she died in the 2013 finale it’s one that exists primarily inside Dexter’s own head. “We could have done the show without her and it would not have been nearly as good,” Philips said. “She brought us to a new level.”
“Dexter” premiered in 2006 right at the onset of the “Peak TV” era at a time when cable dramas led by male antiheroes like Tony Soprano 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 to 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.
And it’s a deflating send-off that Levine has been itching to fix. “We didn’t do it justice in the end,” Levine said back in August during the show’s TCA panel. “That has always been a burr under my saddle. We always wanted to see if there was a way to do it right. And it took a long time to figure out what that was. It took a long time for Michael to be willing to revisit the role.”
“Dexter: New Blood” premieres Sunday, Nov. 7 on Showtime