Dexter Season 9: It’s Happening, Here’s All We Know
Here is everything we know about Dexter Season 9.
Ever since Dexter left the airwaves in 2013, fans have lamented the finale. It was immediately controversial in how the writers summed up TV’s favorite serial killer’s story. After all, he had been through, after all the mayhem and death, a lumberjack in Oregon was not the way fans saw Dexter going out. Well, bless Dexter’s killer soul, he is officially back after an 8-year absence in what is shaping up to be a death-filled ninth season.
Here is all we know about Dexter Season 9.
SEE THE DEXTER: NEW BLOOD TRAILER
THE FIRST TEASER TRAILER FOR SEASON 9
It’s only 10 seconds long and is mostly a voiceover with what could really be stock footage video. And yet? If you’re a fan, it’ll probably give you chills. Yes, Dexter is coming back. Watch the teaser below.
SHOWTIME’S NEW TRAILER INTRODUCES JIMMY
See Dexter Morgan as you’ve never seen him before in this new teaser trailer for Dexter season 9.
Clearly, we’re going to meet Michael C. Hall’s character at a very different time in his life. This brief teaser promises big mysteries and big events for the character we’ve finally revisiting.
SHOWTIME ANNOUNCES DEXTER SEASON 9
The Showtime series, when it ran for its eight seasons, was consistently considered one of the best TV ever had to offer. It told the story of Dexter Morgan, played wonderfully by Michael C. Hall, a forensic technician (blood splatter expert) with the Miami PD. While Dexter was an expert for the police, he also carried with him a disturbing secret. He was a serial killer of serial killers. Fans latched on to the series in droves and it gained notoriety as well as awards. But, the show has always been marred by what many consider to one of the worst series finales ever. So, when the announcement came that Dexter would be back, fans rejoiced.
The announcement came on October 14, 2020. Showtime was pretty blunt about it on their Twitter page stating, “Surprise Motherf*cker. He’s Back. #Dexter.”
This was followed by a statement from Showtime Entertainment president Gary Levine. “Dexter is such a special series, both for its millions of fans and for Showtime, as this breakthrough show helped put our network on the map many years ago. We would only revisit this unique character if we could find a creative take that was truly worthy of the brilliant, original series. Well, I am happy to report that Clyde Phillips and Michael C. Hall have found it, and we can’t wait to shoot it and show it to the world.”
With the ending as it was, perhaps some fans are hesitant about this revival. But Dexter does have one good thing besides the return of Hall in its favor: the return of Clyde Phillips. Phillips was the series showrunner for the first four seasons which, by the way, are widely considered to be Dexter’s best. Phillips has widely discussed in the past how, if he had still been involved with the show, that his Dexter ending would have been vastly different than what fans ultimately got.
In Phillips’s mind, Dexter would have met his end, a true end, if he had stuck with the show. He told E! Online, “In the very last scene of the series… Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, it was a dream.’ And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, ‘No, it’s not a dream.’ Dexter’s opening his eyes and he’s on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.” Maybe we are saying too much here? Would Phillips do what he says he’d do?
RETURNING PLAYERS
Well, the main cast is set, that being Michael C. Hall. Who else from the original cast will be back to share some screen time with Dexter? Obviously, the only way they will be bringing back Jennifer Carpenter would be through flashbacks, but don’t count out David Zayas as Dexter’s best friend Angel Batista. Perhaps we will also see the return of Dexter’s ghostly advice giver, his father Harry Morgan, played by James Remar, although that currently seems unlikely. The actor said in recent interviews that he wasn’t asked back and that he’s disappointed about that. Recent rumors say John Cusack could be in a starring role, but that has yet to be confirmed.
John Lithgow, who played the Trinity Killer, will be part of the new season. He’s confirmed that his new scenes are flashbacks.
Yep! While her character is another that isn’t being shown in the trailers and will likely be in flashback scenes, Deb is going to be part of the new season.
NEW CAST FOR DEXTER: NEW BLOOD
Fans recently saw Clancy Brown on Showtime’s Billions. Now, he’ll be playing Kurt, the mayor of the town Dexter is in, a former truck driver, and the primary villain for season nine.
Julia Jones was last seen on The Mandalorian and may be familiar to you from her role in the Twilight movies as Leah. Now, she’s been cast as the Chief of Police.
Actress Johnny Sequoyah is best known for her role in 2014’s Believe. She’s been cast as Julia Jones’s daughter, where she’ll be an opinionated teenager.
Alano Miller has been cast as the local school’s wrestling coach and a sergeant for the local police department.
THE STORY OF DEXTER SEASON 9
According to Phillips, the story picks up ten years after the finale. “We basically do get to start from scratch,” Phillips told The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 5 Podcast. “We want this to not be Dexter season 9. Ten years have passed – or however many years have passed by the time this will air – and the show will reflect that time passage. Insofar as the ending of the show: this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was – and it’s a great opportunity to write a second finale for a show, and Showtime was very gracious about that.”
The story, as we know it from The Illuminerdi, will find Dexter matching wits with a man who is approximately 50 years old named Kurt. Born in a Northeast American Town, Kurt is beloved by his community and owns the local truck shop. Kurt has a son named Matthew, of which Kurt has had to clean up his many messes along the way. Showtime was looking for a big name to go toe-to-toe with Dexter and they first reached out to Tim Robbins who declined. The studio next set their sights on John Cusack, who appears to be close to taking on the role.
There is also a strong chance that fans could see Dexter’s son Harrison, who would now be grown up, as part of the storyline.
PRODUCTION
Phillips says the plan is to get Dexter in front of the cameras in January 2021. Of course, COVID may have plenty to say about the production schedule even if they make the January start date. Also, at the present time, Dexter is expected to premiere in the Fall of 2021. The series has received a 10-episode order from Showtime and there are no official plans for Dexter to last longer than those ten episodes.
As Phillips put it, “We’re moving forward to an ending that will be, as Chekhov said, surprising but inevitable.” This does not bode well for our favorite serial killer. But Phillips didn’t want to leave fans depressed or upset as he spoke about the character of Dexter and of what’s to come. “Dexter always has what we call ‘the dark passenger’ living inside him,” says Phillips. “He is more grounded than he’s ever been, but that dark passenger is a voice he cannot deny. This is Dexter. People are going to die.”
Those are words to many Dexter fan’s ears and something that may have never happened for series star Michael C. Hall, who during his initial run as Dexter, not only fought death on the screen but who also faced death off-screen. Halfway through the series run, Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a blood cancer that affects the immune system. Much to Hall’s credit, he continued to film Dexter while battling the disease and his fight was tremendous. He underwent chemotherapy as well as surgery where doctors performed biopsies on two lymph nodes. Chemo took his hair, which caused Hall to wear a wig on season 5 of Dexter. So far, Hall has looked cancer in the eyes and prevailed. Now we can’t wait to see what Dexter has up his sleeve.
DEXTER: NEW BLOOD RELEASE DATE
Showtime has officially announced that you’ll be able to see Dexter: New Blood, formerly known as season 9, on November 7, 2021.
