A bearded Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in season 8 of 'Dexter'

‘Dexter’: The Reunion Between Dexter and Harrison Is ‘Heartbreaking,’ Says Jack Alcott

Nearly a decade after abandoning his son to go into hiding, Dexter is about to reunite with Harrison. And Jack Alcott, who stars in 'Dexter: New Blood' as the son of the antihero killer, says the scene is absolutely 'heartbreaking.'

by Chelsea Stewart

Published on September 17, 2021

2 min read

The ‘Dexter’ revival finds him in a new environment

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) was presumed dead after his boat capsized during Hurricane Laura, when he had really escaped and fled to the woods. A decade later, Dexter remains in hiding, hunkering down in Upstate New York under the name Jim Lindsay.

“When we meet him [in the revival], he is living a very calm and abstinent monastic life in upstate New York in a fictional town called Iron Lake,” showrunner Clyde Phillips told the website Drama Quarterly.

“He works at the fish and game store, surrounded by weapons of minor destruction and by the trophies of what other people have killed – deer heads and stuffed trout on the wall,” he added. “We also learn he’s got a new girlfriend who is the chief of police. He can use that accessibility to the police station to his advantage, because even though he’s had a monastic, abstinent life, this is Dexter and Dexter is going to kill people.”

Dexter and Harrison will also reunite

In a trailer released in September, Dexter returns home to find a teenage boy standing in his living room. “Are you Dexter Morgan? It’s me, your son,” says Harrison, who will be played this time by Alcott.

“It’s been a long time and I haven’t seen him and I’ve been looking for him,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly in a conversation about the revival. “What I can say is that Harrison has had a really rough time for the past eight years. Like, it’s not been great.”

“He learns that his dad is not dead and goes to find him,” he continued. “That’s what you see for the first two-thirds of the season, sort of intermittent sprinklings of me, this mystery stalker. It’s me following him, trying to confirm his identity. I’m finally able to see him and confront him. It’s just a heartbreaking scene and a really fun one to film.”

The trailer shows Dexter absolutely stunned by the sight of his son, who was left with Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) in the original series finale. Phillips said during the Television Critics Association press tour that Dexter now has some explaining to do with Harrison, who holds “great resentment” toward him for abandoning him.

“Dexter had left his son when he was five years old, and the son has always thought he was dead and then found out he was alive, and has great resentment,” he explained, per Collider.

Alcott added to EW the revival will follow them developing our relationship. But, he said, “that’s hard when there’s been that much space, the circumstances of having that much space and the secrets that he keeps.”