Dexter’s creator is speaking out about the shocking cancellation of Original Sin and if another spinoff is still coming!
Dexter has become one of the most unlikely redemption stories in recent television history. Beginning in 2006, the Showtime thriller was a hit, adapting the novels of Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a Miami PD lab tech who’s also a serial killer who targets other murderers. The show’s first four seasons were hailed by critics as amazing TV.
Sadly, the show faltered in its last seasons, culminating in a finale often listed among the worst TV series finales ever. It took years for a follow-up show, Dexter: New Blood, to bring the character back and try to fix things.
That show led to two other spinoffs. Original Sin was a prequel series showing how a young Dexter began his work as both a cop and killer. Dexter: Resurrection had Hall back in the role as Dexter travels to New York. That series has been met by massive acclaim from fans and critics as a return to form for the show.
Original Sin had been renewed by Showtime for a second season before the first was finished. But in a stunning reversal, Showtime canceled the series while renewing Resurrection. The general consensus is that Showtime figured that with the regular Dexter back, a prequel show wasn’t needed.
Speaking to the Dissecting Dexter podcast, creator Clyde Phillips opened up on how it felt to get the news of the dual axing/renewal.
“It was a tough phone call that I got that night. They had already picked up the show, and I had informed all of the writers and informed all of the actors. And then un-picked it up. They created their own word. They un-picked it up, while picking up Resurrection, which was no surprise. And it wasn’t handled well, and I’m not happy about it.”
Phillips went on to put some blame on the situation on the management shifts at Paramount. He claimed executive Chris McCarthy had been an ally and even wanted to push several spinoffs while Phillips summed up “he wanted me to be his new Taylor Sheridan.”
However, when Skydance and Paramount merged, McCarthy announced he was leaving the company. That basically killed off the spinoffs, with Showtime now only seeing Dexter: Resurrection as the one to continue.
What other Dexter shows would have occurred?
McCarthy was happy to hear of a fan petition to revive Original Sin, but sadly confirmed it likely won’t change anything. He also shared how Original Sin would have continued to build the Dexter universe in season 2.
“We plotted out a couple of years of this and looking forward to introducing new characters, like [James] Doakes — imagine Doakes at 25 or 30 years old — and Captain Matthews. And also watching Dexter’s evolution and Harry’s evolution. If you remember them in the pilot to Original Sin, which I wrote, the swimming pool scene. That was news. Nobody knew that. It was just something I came up with. And it defined Harry, and we wanted to continue that definition and continue developing the characters and developing Dexter, played by Patrick Gibson — played extraordinarily well by Patrick Gibson, I thought.”
Phillips added that he and the writers wrote out ten scripts for a continuation of New Blood without Dexter and instead centered around his son, Harrison. They also wrote out an entire season of Trinity, a prequel focusing on the younger version of Arthur Miller, aka the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow in an Emmy-winning turn. Sadly, Phillips doesn't have much hope for the latter happening.
“It’s backburnered, and I honestly don’t think they’re going to go for it. I just think they’re interested in Resurrection. I mean, if they killed Original Sin, which is a built-in hit, how are they going to pick up Trinity. If they do, I’d be delighted, but I don’t see them doing it.”
This may seem a bit harsh but Phillips understands "It's their show, their money, they can do what they want." It may actually be a bit better not to overwhelm fans with too much Dexter as multiple prequels alongside a series with the character in the present day may have been a bit too much for viewers to keep straight. It's best seeing Dexter Morgan the way fans like him rather than the younger version or other killers.
So in a bizarre way, the monster success of Dexter: Resurrection only served to kill off both Original Sin and Trinity. While many fans are happy to see Dexter back, it’s still a letdown that all that hard work by Phillips and his staff was for naught trying to build up a “Dexter-verse” for Showtime.