The ‘Dexter’ Revival Is ‘Starkly Different’ Than Original Series, Says Michael C. Hall

After eight long years, Dexter will return to Showtime in November. Adapted from Jeff Lindsay’s Dark Dreaming Dexter, the show followed a crime scene worker with a double life as a serial killer. It was a big hit with fans in the beginning, but as the show progressed, its popularity dwindled. Still, the revival is happening, bringing a “starkly different” tone, look, and story, according to Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan).

But to be clear, the ‘Dexter’ revival is not the ninth season

Although the revival will continue Dexter’s story, showrunner Clyde Phillips has said that it’s more of a standalone series.

“We basically do get to start from scratch,” he said on the TV’s Top 5 podcast. “We want this to not be Dexter Season 9. Ten years, or however many years, have passed by the time this will air, and the show will reflect that time passage. In so far as the ending of the show, this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was. It’s a great opportunity to write a second finale for our show, and Showtime was very gracious about that.”

Dexter capped its eight-season run in 2013 with the killer fleeing Miami for a new life as a lumberjack. It was disappointing to a lot of people, including Hall. But the revival is aiming to make up for that perceived mistake.

Michael C. Hall on the ‘Dexter’ revival

Hall agreed to the series in 2019 after turning down several offers to reprise his role. He told The Daily Beast that this story was simply too good to pass up, but playing Dexter again after so many years was still a bit “odd” to him.

“It was very odd, at first,” he told Collider.

“The notion that as much time had passed for the character, as had passed for me and for everyone, since we last shot, there was a sense of, ‘Oh, they just turn the cameras back on and he’s being living a life the entire time,'” he continued. “But the context of the show, the tone of the show, the look of the show, all of it is pretty starkly different, so that helped, just in terms of locating myself in a new place and not feeling like we were going back in time.”

“He was still there and accessible,” Hall added. “I had a sense of him that initially felt strange. Something you put away and then you’re resurrecting, it’s a pretty wild experience. The shoot was so demanding and intense that, after a couple of days, there really wasn’t much to do other than just focus on the work at hand, and that’s what we did.”

The revival, titled Dexter: New Blood, will find Dexter in Upstate New York. He seems to be living a normal life under the name Jim Lindsay, but we pretty much know that he’s going to kill again.

Could there be more ‘Dexter’ after the upcoming 10 episodes?

In the same Collider interview, Hall was asked if there could be more episodes beyond the 10 that Showtime has promised. He chose not to answer, explaining he didn’t want to reveal “anything by answering that question definitively.” But he previously suggested there could be more.

For now, prepare yourself for Dexter: New Blood. It airs on Showtime on Nov. 7.