WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Dexter: New Blood episode 9.
Dexter: New Blood star Clancy Brown always knew his character, Kurt Caldwell, would die. Known for his villainous roles in both live-action and animation, Brown stars in the new revival season of Dexter as the unofficial mayor of Iron Lake. After his son, Matt Caldwell (Steve M. Robertson), goes missing, a series of events leads to the revelation that Kurt is a serial killer who preys on runaway girls. New Blood also stars Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Jack Alcott, Julia Jones, Johnny Sequoyah, Alano Miller, and Jamie Chung.
Set 10 years after the controversial season 8 finale "Remember the Monsters?," New Blood finds Dexter (Hall) residing in a small town in upstate New York where he lives under the alias Jim Lindsay, works at a Fish & Game shop, and is dating police chief Angela Bishop (Jones). Dexter also reunites with his now-teenage son Harrison (Alcott) and is forced to confront the possibility that his Dark Passenger may have been passed on to his own kin. The father and son eventually team up to take down the town's secret killer, Kurt, with Dexter teaching Harrison his infallible code in the process.
During an interview with Collider on the heels of the season's penultimate episode, "The Family Business," Clancy Brown says he always knew Kurt Caldwell would end up on Dexter's kill table by the season's end. Brown admits to not knowing how, but he knew his character wouldn't make it out alive. Read what he had to say below:
Oh, well, yeah, I mean, it's Dexter. He's not going to survive. We know he's not going to survive. We don't know how, but we know he's not going to make it. The last episode, I don't know what happens in it. That's been completely redacted from me. Which is fine. I'm looking forward to seeing it. But I read through Episode 9. I read up until then. And I think it started to get redacted right after I got killed. It gives me a reason to tune in.
Brown was right to expect Kurt to be killed by the end of the season, as Dexter has bested nearly every serial killer he has crossed paths with over the previous 8 seasons, including the Ice Truck Killer, the Skinner, the Trinity Killer, the Doomsday Killer, and the Brain Surgeon. In the past, each season has adhered to a similar formula, as a possible target is introduced for Dexter to investigate, eventually discovering they are, in fact, a serial killer, and eliminating them by the season's end. So far, New Blood appears to be no different.
For those who watched the previous 8 seasons, it wasn't much of a surprise when Kurt ended up on the wrong side of Dexter's knife. Now, with one episode remaining, New Blood has the chance to cap off its other storylines and give the long-running Showtime series the satisfying conclusion it deserves. Based on the previous episode's ending, the season finale will likely focus on Angela confronting Dexter about his status as a serial killer. The finale of Dexter: New Blood airs this Sunday, January 9.
Source: Collider