Dexter: New Blood is a deservedly popular series for Showtime, but the possibility of an expanded series risks ruining another series ending. New Blood was promoted with the idea that it would be fixing Dexter’s worst mistake, namely its series finale. After 8 seasons of following Dexter Morgan as he puts down dangerous killers and avoids being caught, Showtime ended the series on a sour note, with Dexter having one of the most hated TV series endings of all time. Although this stained the reputation for the series for many fans, Showtime’s 2021 reboot, Dexter: New Blood has proven to be popular by becoming just as great, if not more captivating, than the original series.
The original series finale saw Dexter Morgan faking his death and abandoning his son, Harrison, after the death of his sister Debra, simply leaving behind his serial killer life to become a lumberjack in Oregon. Ending on this note left fans with a bad taste in their mouths, which is why many were so ecstatic when Dexter: New Blood’s sequel series was announced. The show brought back Dexter, Harrison, and (posthumously) Deb Morgan a decade after the series finale, giving Showtime the opportunity to amend where the original went wrong. With Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and showrunner Clyde Phillips back, the reality of Dexter: New Blood fixing its season 8 mistakes and providing the perfect series ending that the show deserved looked promising.
Showtime has promoted Dexter: New Blood as a 10-episode limited series, seemingly as a one-and-done effort to bring back the characters and give audiences the satisfactory finale they never received. Given how popular and well-received the reboot series has been, it wouldn’t be surprising if Showtime decided to go back on their original premise and extend it into at least season 2. With the quality of Dexter: New Blood echoing the original series, the show proving to be a hit for Showtime’s business numbers, and already turning around fan perception of the show as a whole, renewing Dexter for another season isn’t impossible. While this would make many fans and Showtime happy, doing so risks robbing Dexter of yet another perfect series finale.
Dexter: New Blood’s Quality Calls Back To The Original Series
The first four seasons of Dexter's original series are widely regarded as the show's golden age, in which each had unparalleled suspense and plot progression that felt right for each character. As the show continued, it began to lose a bit of its magic, partially straying from the character tropes and arcs that had been established. Not coincidentally, season 4 was also the last installment under original showrunner Clyde Phillips, who exited the series after Dexter took down the big bad Trinity Killer. Instead of falling in line with the aspects of the original show’s later seasons that felt slightly off-key, Dexter: New Blood is much more representative of the captivating writing and suspense of the first four seasons - not surprisingly because Clyde Phillips is back as showrunner.
The reboot series has successfully revived viewer adoration for Dexter considering how well-formed New Blood's villains and family dynamics have been portrayed, bringing audiences back to the original’s heyday. As such, many fans are lobbying for Showtime to renew Dexter: New Blood for season 2 even before the finale. In this sense, maybe it doesn’t matter whether New Blood delivers on a fantastic ending, as many seem to just be content watching Dexter Morgan hunt serial killers again.
New Blood Is Showtime’s Most-Watched Drama Debut
While fan encouragement and popularity among viewers is important, the real stakes for Dexter: New Blood’s success business-wise comes from how well it performs with wide viewership on Showtime’s platform. In this matter, Dexter: New Blood has done more than just overdeliver. According to Variety, Showtime’s online subscriptions (not cable add-ons) skyrocketed upon Dexter: New Blood’s episode 1 premiere on November 7. Showtime’s video streaming app saw a spike of 254.4% more downloads in November than it did in October, not coincidentally the same month as Dexter: New Blood’s premiere.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish celebrated Showtime for its Dexter reboot at a 2021 UBS global conference, explaining that New Blood is Showtime’s most-watched drama series debut in history. Bakish also mentioned that Dexter's reboot series set records for the service’s online subscriptions upon its premiere. Considering Dexter: New Blood is proving to be one of Showtime’s most profitable series of all time, it’s hard to believe that they’re willing to let that popularity go after just one season. Showtime is in the streaming wars with HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix, so letting go of such a commodity like Dexter: New Blood just so it can have a great ending doesn’t seem likely.
Dexter’s Hated Ending Made It The Perfect Reboot Series
While reboots and revivals are becoming the new norm in TV, Dexter is one of the only shows that completely warrant a follow-up series. Now along the same lines as Game of Thrones, Dexter’s 2013 season 8 finale is widely regarded as one of the most hated series endings of all time. Many fans had soured views of Dexter after the season 8 finale, and Dexter: New Blood was the perfect opportunity to fix its original mistakes and provide a better, more explosive ending. Reboots typically work best when there’s a real, justifiable purpose for the show’s return, and Dexter has the perfect reason of needing to provide a satisfying ending that gives closure to Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan.
This was how Dexter: New Blood was primarily marketed, as both Hall and Clyde Phillips vocalized their issues with the original series finale and believed they owed it to fans and the characters to fix it. Clyde Phillips has also teased that Dexter: New Blood’s ending will “blow up the internet” by providing a “surprising” and “inevitable” resolution. In boasting such an incredible ending after the disappointment of season 8, Phillips is teasing that Dexter: New Blood is the one-and-done finale season that it initially set out to be, and would still do an incredible job of satisfying fans with closure.
Extending Past Season 1 Risks Ruining Dexter's New Perfect Ending
Considering Dexter: New Blood has been promoted as giving Dexter the perfect ending treatment it never received, the possibility of the series extending to season 2 may throw a wrench in this resolution. An explosive ending to Dexter: New Blood that resolves what went wrong with the original finale is warranted, but it could be undermined by extending the show into a long-running series. Instead, fans would be getting an incredible season 1 finale, not the conclusive series finale for Dexter Morgan that it was set up for. If so, follow-up seasons would risk not living up to the season 1 finale, thus running into the same problem as Dexter’s original series. If Clyde Phillips has saved his “best writing” for Dexter: New Blood's ending, it may not be possible to outdo it in later seasons. Dexter: New Blood is a remarkably well-made and captivating show that would do well with multiple seasons, it just risks losing what truly drew fans back - a perfect series finale. Dexter: New Blood has the rare chance to scrub a hated finale from its reputation by concluding the reboot in just one season, and it should take it.