‘Dexter’ Star Michael C. Hall Addresses ‘New Blood’ Episode Surprise (Exclusive)

After its anticipated return eight years in the making, Dexter: New Blood wrapped up this past January leaving fans shocked and saddened by the antihero’s ultimate fate. But it was the show’s decision to play one of series star Michael C. Hall’s band’s songs during the end credits of one particular episode that left the actor just as surprised as audiences. During the end credits of the series’ fifth offering titled “Runaway,” the twisted episode’s conclusion was followed by credits featuring the song “Ketamine,” written and sung by Hall with his band Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum — an avant-indie supergroup with fellow musicians, Peter Yanowitz and Matt Katz-Bohen.

In an exclusive with PopCulture.com to talk about the band’s tour across the U.S. this spring, Hall said he never pictured the track would be a part of the Dexter revival when heading into the series. “Honestly, I left it up to the music supervisor and other people to decide when and if they thought a song of ours would fit into the season,” Hall told PopCulture. “I got an email saying that they wanted to play ‘Ketamine’ on the end credits of the fifth episode. I think in a way it’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Dexter in this new season, he didn’t — it’s not what he used back in the day. But in this new season to knock out his victims, he was using ketamine that he’d stolen from a veterinarian’s office.”

Featured on their self-titled EP, the song “Ketamine” is a nice tie to the episode as Dexter is actually looking for the anesthesia from Iron Lake’s veterinarian to sedate one of his victims. While he is able to acquire the medication, things go awry for our favorite vigilante serial killer and he has to improvise. But as those events transpire, the end credits help to tie things together with lyrics like, “I want to feel forever changing” or “no matter what I can’t escape.” 

Sharing with PopCulture how by “no means” did he ever picture Dexter Morgan’s circumstances in mind when writing the song, Hall admits there was a “resonance” that perfectly aligned to his character’s circumstances. “There was also just something sonically at that moment in the season as that episode ended, that just felt, it just felt right to the people who were making those decisions,” he said. “I agreed and I was thrilled. It was a cool way to just, if nothing else, maybe people heard it and liked it. I think some wondered if that was me singing or just liked the song and explored it from there and discovered from there. But it was a nice, maybe not so heavy-handed way to insert a little Princess into the Dexter reboot.”

Hall’s bandmate Yanowitz chimes in that the addition to Dexter: New Blood was “so cool” of the showrunners to include. “I thought what the most remarkable thing that I found was just reading some of the comments that people thought it sounded like Mike singing, which I thought I found really interesting since I don’t know how they — I don’t know where they got that from, but they recognized his voice singing the song. I thought that was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’”

Stating how their previous single, “Tomorrow’s Screams” would have been a nice addition to the show as well, especially for the finale that saw Dexter’s son Harrison driving off, Hall smirked. “I actually really love that, The National song that’s actually there — I was all for that. But that would’ve worked too, maybe,” he laughed. “We didn’t try it. I felt like it might have been a little much.”

For more information and how you can see Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum live, click here for tickets and dates. Head to their official site for music, merchandise, and lots more on the band! Their debut album, Thanks for Coming is out now at all digital retailers and is available to stream.