Warning: Contains spoilers for Dexter: New Blood episode 7.
While many viewers might be expecting Dexter to die in the Dexter: New Blood series finale as the show has worked to set up a fix to the original Dexter’s controversial ending, killing Dexter Morgan would be a mistake. The entire Dexter franchise has always traded off of playing with morally gray areas with their serial killer who only killed “bad” people. Now Dexter: New Blood has a chance to continue that idea with a more nuanced ending than simply having Dexter die.
The original Dexter season 8 finale concluded with Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) faking his own death before relocating to Oregon, where he appeared to live alone. This ending frustrated many viewers who felt that the killer had been able to get away without any consequences after eight seasons of death and numerous moments when he went against his own code. Dexter: New Blood picks up almost ten years after that original finale and shows Dexter as a man that has not killed in that time before he is pulled back into his first kill in so long around the same time that his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott) finds him.
Ever since the trailers dropped for Dexter: New Blood, Dexter has been redefining himself. While he acknowledges that he is still a monster, he claims to be a monster that is “evolving.” This potentially bold claim has been born out by the revival series. While Dexter has killed again after nearly a decade, the new show has been extremely light on kills, with Dexter only killing two people, Matt Caldwell and Jasper Hodge, by the end of episode 7. Dexter: New Blood has clearly shown that Dexter can change, both in whether or not he kills and why he kills, and simply killing the character off at the end of the season would deny Dexter the chance for redemption that the revival series has worked to set up.
The original seasons of Dexter often worked through Dexter’s motivations for killing, with it sometimes being seen as an addiction that drove him and at other times as something that he had complete control over but wanted to do anyway. By the time of Dexter: New Blood, it is clear that he has gained a level of control over the need and desire as he has gone such a long time without any kills. While he does return to killing, both of those kills are for a distinct motive that is highlighted in Dexter: New Blood episode 7 when he notes that he has become a “protector.” This echoes the Dexter season 2 portrayal of the Bay Harbor Butcher as the Dark Defender and emphasizes that both of his Dexter: New Blood kills were about revenge for a threat against another. Dexter had formed a close connection with the white deer, and his murder of Matt was an act of vengeance directly against Matt killing it. Similarly, by killing Jasper, who had supplied drugs that Harrison overdosed on, Dexter was avenging the risk against his son.
If Dexter has found a way to exist without killing or only kills in extreme circumstances when threats are made against those he cares about, it suggests that Dexter is capable of a. more complete redemption down the line. If the Dexter: New Blood finale kills Dexter, it will be a mistake as it will suggest that Dexter has been unable to evolve and that death is the only feasible conclusion for someone like him. This possibility of redemption is particularly important at this current moment as people are increasingly viewing the US criminal justice system and the death penalty as ineffective and not a true source of justice. Keeping him alive but repentant and trying to fix what he has done would ultimately be a better ending to Dexter: New Blood than to have Dexter die. And, of course, it would leave the door open for a future of the Dexter franchise if appropriate, as the show has always been defined by Michael C. Hall.
Dexter: New Blood releases new episodes Sundays on Showtime.