A recent Instagram post proves that this actress is truly interested in returning in future seasons.
With roughly three months still left before Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 officially begins filming, the wheels are already turning behind the scenes. Showrunner Clyde Phillips has mentioned several times over the past few weeks that the writing team is deep into script development. Unlike 2024, when attention was seperated between the prequel Dexter: Original Sin and the sequel series, this time the focus is completely on continuing Dexter Morgan’s....modern story.
Season 1 of Dexter: Resurrection ran for 10 episodes and actually proved it wasn’t afraid to revisit the past. The series surprised viewers by bringing back a handful of characters who died during the original Dexter run. These appearances came through hallucinations and visions from Dexter’s subconscious, popping up in both the first and last episodes of the season.
We got to see Dexter confronted once again by Arthur Mitchell, Miguel Prado, James Doakes, and Brian Moser, along with Harry Morgan, who served as Dexter’s inner voice throughout the season. Most viewers definitely agreed that those returns felt earned and meaningful, adding emotional depth rather than coming across as cheap fan service.
Still, even with all the...nostalgia baked into the season, there is one absence that stood out more than any other: Rita Morgan. That decision caused some debate online, especially since the season, from the first moment, was already leaning so heavily on hallucinations as a storytelling device. And now, months after the season wrapped up, original cast member Julie Benz has publicly agreed that leaving Rita out of Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 was a mistake.
Julie Benz has never hidden how she actually feels about Rita’s fate. Ever since her character was killed off in the Dexter Season 4 finale, Benz has spoken with honesty (and more than a little bitterness) about the way Rita’s storyline ended. In recent interviews she’s been openly critical of some of the creative choices made for Rita in Seasons 3 and 4, and she also admitted that the character’s shocking death still stings all these years later.
When Dexter: Resurrection was announced, plenty of viewers assumed Rita would be one of the first characters considered for a return. But as Season 1 played out, Rita was only referenced indirectly through a gravestone, and brief bits of dialogue. Julie Benz later revealed she never received a call to reprise the role, and she admitted that she was disappointed by that choice.
That disappointment resurfaced recently thanks to an Instagram post from Bingetown TV, which actually featured a detailed fan critique about the direction of Dexter: Resurrection. The creator of the video argued that Julie Benz should have appeared in Season 1, since the show already used that approach with other dead characters. The post also suggested that excluding Rita felt inconsistent and even minimized how important she was to Dexter’s original series.
Julie Benz didn’t just appreciate hte argument, in fact she 100% agreed with it. The actress commented on the post with heart emojis and reshared it on her Instagram stories with the enthusiastic message, “I agree too!!!” That reaction confirmed that Benz believes the team dropped the ball by not including Rita Morgan in Dexter: Resurrection Season 1.
The Instagram critique also touched on a quite common argument that appears whenever Rita’s name is mentioned. Some fans claim she could not return as a hallucination because Rita never knew Dexter was a killer. The post rejected that idea, explaining that Dexter’s visions aren’t bound by real-world logic. They come from his own guilt and subconscious, meaning Rita could absolutely appear as part of his inner torment. From a psychological standpoint, she might actually make more sense than almost any other character.
Looking back at the original series, it is easy to understand why fans, and Julie Benz herself feel that way. Rita Morgan acted as Dexter’s emotional anchor and represented the normal life he constantly tried to protect. Her influence actually shaped his growth as a character, and many viewers believe that the story told in Resurrection feels a little kind of weird without confronting Rita directly on screen.
The last time Julie Benz portrayed Rita was in the Season 5 premiere of Dexter, appearing in flashbacks that revisited how she first met Dexter. Since then the character has lived on only through memories. But with Harrison Morgan now playing a bigger role in Resurrection and Dexter still haunted by his past on way or another, there is still plenty of room for Rita to return in Season 2.
As Phillips and the writers continue developing the new scripts for Dexter: Resurrection Season 2, we are hopeful that Julie’s comments will not be ignored. The actress has actually made it obvious she’s open and available to reprise the role, and if Rita Morgan finally appears again, it could be one of the most satisfying moments yet.