Dexter: New Blood Is Canceled, Here’s The New Spinoff Replacing The Original Show
Dexter: New Blood will not receive a season 2, but a prequel series is being developed by showtime.
The second season of Dexter: New Blood, the revival of Michael C. Hall’s serial killer has been shut down by Showtime and will likely be replaced by a prequel series of the murderer as a child. According to a report in TVLine, Dexter: New Blood season 2 was in development as a starring vehicle for the killer’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott) but has now been canceled in favor of some variation of Dexter’s adventures. While a prequel series is the most likely show to result, it would be interesting if Showtime were to pursue some more out-there spin-offs of one of its most famous series.
Dexter: New Blood premiered in 2021, continuing the story that seemed to have been concluded by the finale of the original series in 2013. It was originally intended as a limited series, but fan enthusiasm seems to have encouraged Showtime to go for a second season, even if the finale of the series seemed to have wrapped up things pretty tidily for everyone’s favorite mild-mannered forensic technician/vigilante serial killer. However, the network seems to have pivoted hard and decided to go with a Young Dexter concept.
While we would not go so far as to say that Showtime was inspired by the success of The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon and its youthful version of Jim Parsons’ oddball scientist, it seems like a possibility at the very least. While child-aged serial killers have not been all that represented in television, there is at least the precedent of The Bad Seed, The Good Son, and The Prodigy in cinema to give the producers of Dexter: Year One (our title, not theirs) some idea of where to go.
On the other hand, a Dexter prequel would logically preclude Michael C. Hall from returning as the suspiciously clean-cut mass murderer. Hall began playing the character all the way back in 2006, when Showtime first premiered its adaptation of Jeff Lindsay’s serials of crime thriller novels, so it feels like longtime fans might take exception to his absence. It is also possible that Lil’ Dexter (again, our title) could have appearances from Michael C. Hall as a form of bookend to episodes as the killer remembers his childhood, but we can only dream.
That also means that a Dexter prequel would likely recast Jennifer Carpenter as the killer’s adoptive sister and eventual lover (the show got weird) Debra and James Remar as their hardbitten adoptive father, who trains the boy to only murder people he has decided deserve it. While we would miss the original cast, it would certainly be interesting to see how the hypothetical showrunners would replace those characters.
It is always possible that the next iteration of Dexter will be something different than a simple prequel, like a show from the perspective of one of the cops who never suspected their coworker was a prolific serial killer. While Showtime has a new gory hit show, it seems like they are not going to let Dexter go that easily.
