WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Dexter: New Blood Episode 9
Dexter: New Blood star Clancy Brown liked the original ending Showtime gave fans back in 2013. Seven years after Dexter's series finale was panned by fans and critics, Showtime announced that they were developing a revival called Dexter: New Blood. The series takes place ten years after the events of season 8, focusing on Dexter reuniting with his son Harrison in a small town in upstate New York.
Brown plays Kurt Caldwell, a well-known figure in the fictional town of Iron Lake. Kurt seems to get along with most people in the town, but his son Matt starts causing issues in Iron Lake, which pushes Dexter to murder him. As the season progresses, Kurt is revealed to be a serial killer who has been kidnapping, murdering, and embalming women for decades. Episode 9, "The Family Business," shows Dexter finally telling Harrison about his Dark Passenger and ends with the pair killing Kurt in his underground bunker.
While most people hated Dexter season 8's ending, Brown didn't mind it. During an interview with Collider, Brown sat down to talk about what it was like being a newcomer on a show as popular as Dexter. The actor explained that he didn't know anything about the revival until Phillips talked to him about starring as the villain, and also that he loved working with Michael C. Hall. Preparing for the role, Brown went back and watched the original series and stated he liked the final season. His full quote can be read below:
I didn't know there was a Dexter revival until Clyde [Phillips] came to me with the possibility. So I think they were keeping that under wraps pretty well until they had it all set up and ready to go. The way I heard Clyde and Michael [C. Hall] tell it is that, there had been gestures to do the revival to sort of fix what they thought they broke a little bit, I guess, the last few seasons. Personally, I had no problem with the way it ended. I thought it was just fine. But I think Michael had to get some distance on it. Clyde had to get some distance on it. I know they'd been trying to sort of figure out how to do it for a while, and I was glad that they decided to come around and do it. I think you had to wait, right? You had to wait until Harrison was old enough to be part of it, I suppose.
So I thought that was a good idea. When they came to me, I went back and started watching. I watched it early on and then I kind of stopped watching it after a while. And then I watched the last season and I remember the stigma. And I enjoyed the last season. I was a huge James Remar fan, so I was kind of bummed when he wasn't involved in this part of it. And then Jennifer [Carpenter] does a great job standing in. I think that makes total sense how they've carried on that tradition. And now, it's Jennifer that's doing it. It's just brilliant. Then they sent me the scripts that they had and I thought it was a really good idea. And so had my meetings and then they said, "Yes." So I fooled somebody again. Fooled them all one more time.
Dexter: New Blood has been praised during its time on the air, but the same could not be said for the last few seasons of the original series. Many claim the show started to go downhill after season 4 when Clyde Phillips left the series. By the time season 8 ended, the show went down in history as having one of the most hated series finales ever. Season 8 ends with Dexter pulling Deb off of life support after she is shot and put in a coma by Oliver Saxon. Believing that everyone he gets close to ends up getting killed or hurt, Dexter ends up driving his boat into a hurricane and faking his own death. The infamous final shot shows Dexter as a lumberjack in a cabin living in Oregon.
Some may have liked the way season 8 ended, but it is a bit of a surprise to hear that Brown liked the final season. Hall has even stated in the past that season 8's disappointing ending is a big reason why the revival happened in the first place. Phillips has also criticized the show's original ending. Dexter: New Blood is thought to be a limited series, and it looks like Dexter may finally be caught as Angela closes in on him. But with the way the season has unfolded, Showtime could be considering giving Harrison a spinoff of his own since he has dark tendencies like his father. However, before Showtime can look forward to continuing Dexter: New Blood's storyline, it's important they nail the ending this second time around.
Source: Collider