Dexter's showrunner finally breaks his silence on the controversial New Blood finale.
Ahead of the Dexter: Original Sin series premiere on December 13, Clyde Phillips, the showrunner of Dexter seasons 1-4, Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection, sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the highly anticipated prequel series starring Patrick Gibson. Unsurprisingly, the conversation also turned to the controversial New Blood finale, which saw America’s favorite serial killer, Dexter Morgan, fatally shot by his son Harrison.
Here's what Phillips had to say about the decision to kill off Dexter Morgan and the intense backlash that followed:
“When I wrote that [New Blood] finale — which was the most-watched single episode in the history of Showtime, by the way — the internet went insane over it. Because they loved Dexter so much and they love Michael Hall so much,” Phillips recalls. “I wanted to take out ads at the time that said: ‘I only had Michael Hall for one year.’ Back when we did New Blood, I only had him for one year.”
He continued, “I didn’t want him going off to prison or disappearing into the fog or any of that business [in the finale], so I decided to be bold about it. The internet hated it.”
Michael C. Hall Asked to Bring Dexter Back
Phillips also shared a surprising revelation: Michael C. Hall himself initiated the idea to revive Dexter yet again.
“Michael came back to me and said, ‘You know what, Dexter’s in my bones; Dexter’s in your bones, Clyde. Let’s keep going. Can you figure out a way to make it happen?’ And I did,” Phillips explained. “You could almost consider Resurrection the next season of New Blood.”
Finding the Right Actor to Play Young Dexter
Casting a younger version of Dexter Morgan was a significant challenge, but Phillips is confident they found the right actor in Patrick Gibson.
“What a challenge to find someone to play young Michael C. Hall, to play young Dexter,” Phillips said. “We were looking at tapes until we went blind, and [Paddy] just popped out. I immediately brought him into the studio, sat with him for about an hour. He looked great. He’s in great shape; he’s Michael C. Hall’s size. And he’s a big fan of the show. We watched him work and we knew we had what we were looking for. I’ve never been able to say this before in my career: We got all our first choices.”
An Easter Egg Hunt for Fans
Phillips teased that fans of the franchise can expect plenty of callbacks and hidden details in Dexter: Original Sin.
“We had this canon of lore from nine seasons of the show from which to draw and, if people like Easter eggs, this show is going to be an Easter egg hunt,” he said. “We would write the shows, start shooting them, and someone would come in and say, ‘I have this great story about an Easter egg,’ and we would run down to set and put a picture on somebody’s desk or whatever it is that the fans are just going to love.”
Two Time Periods, One Prequel
Phillips explained the unique narrative structure of the prequel, which unfolds in two distinct time periods.
“We don’t look at them as flashbacks,” Phillips clarified. “We look at it as the show taking place in two time periods: 1991, when Dexter was 20, and 1973, when Harry was doing that undercover case where he met Dexter at 2 years old.”
The 1973 timeline will explore Harry’s relationship with Dexter’s biological mother, Laura Moser (played by Brittany Allen), who is eventually murdered in front of Dexter and his brother. This pivotal event leads to Harry adopting Dexter and shapes much of Dexter’s character and backstory. “That 1973 story bolsters the information of what goes on in the 1991 part of the show,” Phillips added.