SPOILER WARNING
for ‘Dexter’ (2006), ‘Dexter: New Blood’ (2021) & ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ (2025)
First coming to screens in October of 2006, Dexter Morgan became one of TV’s iconic characters. The Miami-based blood spatter analyst by day and vigilante serial killer by night captivated audiences through many great seasons and a notorious failed finale. Literally as a kid even I knew (for some reason) that Dexter had a terrible ending where he becomes a lumberjack with no further context.
‘Remember the Monsters?’ (2013)
In recent years, the show has had a massive resurgence of popularity by being on streaming services and through edits/memes on TikTok generating millions of new fans and impressions on social media. With history seeming to repeat itself, this same cycle happened in 2022 with Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul. Ironically Dexter and Breaking Bad were both running at the same time back in the day and are now more popular than ever ten years after originally concluding. Pairing this with the announcement of another show it was perfect timing for the series to be literally RESURRECTED ...
With two controversial finales: Dexter (2013) and Dexter: New Blood (2022) there was no option to not stick the landing this time, they just couldn’t miss. With the additional massive cast all happily signing on bringing a lot of hope, the loose ends left still made fans sceptical. Although, the premise of Dexter coming back to life, moving to New York and somehow attending a serial killer dinner party just felt absurd.
Dexter: Resurrection (2025) did what many thought was impossible, not only living up to the great amount of hype but further exceeding expectations and pulling it all off.
Pretty quickly tying up and brushing past the loose ends in the nostalgia heavy premiere, which naturally paid homage to the original series, whilst feeling like a love letter to the fans.
Bringing back fan favourite Angel Batista and redeeming Dexter’s son Harrison, both key characters that deserve to be pivotal parts of the new story. Season One manages to work on the previous audience feedback, with a return to form yet a fresh feeling of excitement of what a modern day Dexter season can be like. This is heavily impacted by the array of well known and talented actors joining the cast: Peter Dinklage, Uma Thurman, Krysten Ritter, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Stonestreet and David Dastmalchian. These performances all bring depth and add to the tension of the story whilst having audiences intrigued on each character. Stand out performances coming from heavyweights Uma Thurman and Peter Dinklage whose overall performance is just incredible. I believe the inclusion of these highly regarded actors brought out the absolute best in Michael C. Hall’s portrayal of Dexter, matching their level and even surpassing it. It is clear Michael loves playing this character and the absolute fun he is having doing it bleeds through into the flawless performance. Overall, the focus seems to be back on family and friends, which made the dark original show still have its warmth. This time, further developing the characters and proving Dexter’s real emotions, humanity and growth. This season understands to just let Dexter be Dexter, finally finding their place in the safe and satisfactory finale.
With logic out the window and a fourth wall breaking final scene:
“I’m Dexter Morgan. I’m exactly who I need to be. Exactly who YOU want me to be.”
You might as well just give fans what they want, that’s what’s fun about it all!
The Dexter franchise has created a massive pop cultural impact, remaining relevant for almost two decades and with the 20th anniversary approaching next year expect Dexter: Resurrection to officially return for Season 2 plus a lot of other plans to be lined up like merch, games and more!
Article from RELOAD MAGAZINE ISSUE 6
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