Dexter Morgan is back. Showtime touted Dexter: New Blood, their upcoming 10-episode revival series at Sunday’s Comic-Con@Home, revealing the show’s first full teaser trailer and the premiere date for the highly-anticipated show. Dexter returns on Showtime on November 7 at 9pm ET/PT. You can watch the trailer below.
Emmy winner Michael C. Hall returns as the avenging serial killer in a story that’s been called a “second finale” for Dexter. But Hall isn’t the only Dexter veteran on board for the revival. Clyde Phillips, who oversaw the original series’ first four seasons, serves as the showrunner of the revival, while Jennifer Carpenter and John Lithgow each reprise their deceased characters Deb Morgan and Arthur Mitchell, aka the Trinity Killer, respectively. (Lithgow has since revealed Mitchell will only be seen in a flashback.) Phillips acknowledged there will be some returning cast members who “will make some people’s brains explode.”
Phillips also said during the Comic-Con panel that Hall insisted that this revival not be Dexter season 9 but a new story, picking up many years later.
The original series ended (unsatisfactorily) with Dexter last seen living a new life as a lumberjack. Instead of the original series’ location of Miami, the revival is set 10 years later in upstate New York and sees Dexter living under the assumed name “Jim Lindsay”, working as a sales associate at Fred’s Fish & Game store. (The name is an homage to Dexter author Jeff Lindsay.)
Hall recalled he had been approached multiple times in the ensuing years about reviving the show but neither he nor Phillips found a story idea they liked enough to move forward with. But when the boss of Showtime called Phillips in July 2019 and said it was time to bring the show back. Phillips and Hall met and finally determined what story they wanted to tell.
“It never felt quite right in terms of the timing,” Hall said of the previous overtures. But Hall believes enough time has now passed to revisit the character, citing “a sense of readiness” to take “a leap of faith” on the revival. Hall also acknowledged that the widely loathed series finale was a factor in wanting one more crack at the show, saying, “I think the end was mystifying at best for people.”
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Set to Del Shannon’s classic “Runaway”, the trailer reveals Dexter living his assumed life as Jim Lindsay, a friendly small-town citizen. He seems safe and happy and perhaps even in love as it shows him kissing a character played by Julia Jones, his love interest who is also the town’s police chief. But, as the trailer shows, you can’t really run from your past. Knives play a big role in the teaser trailer as Dexter is seen tempted by or handling hunting knives at several points throughout. “Sometimes, I have an urge too strong to ignore,” Dexter narrates as we see a hunting knife.
Hall said Dexter has been in “a long protracted penance” in exile for the unintended victims of his Dark Passenger.
The trailer also shows glimpses of Clancy Brown, who reportedly plays the villain of the revival, Kurt Caldwell, described as “the unofficial mayor of the town of Iron Lake. A former truck driver who now owns the local truckstop and several trucks, Caldwell is described as a classic figure you should never cross: Kind to his friends, but ruthless to those who wrong him.”
Phillips promised fans that the ending of this Dexter revival “will be stunning. Shocking, surprising, unexpected. And will, without jinxing anything, I will say the ending of this new season that we’re doing will blow up the Internet.”
The revival’s supporting cast also includes Julia Jones, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah, and Jack Alcott.
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For more Dexter, check out our rankings of all 8 seasons and our look at the worst episodes of great TV shows.