‘Dexter’ Creator Reveals His Original Ending Idea for the Series

Ahead of the Dexter revival, New Blood, series creator Clyde Phillips has revealed his original idea for ending the hit Showtime series. While speaking to Screen Rant, Phillips shared that he initially considered closing the show with everyone’s favorite serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), meeting a much more fateful end. However, Phillips added that he’s happy they opted not to go that route, as it would have meant the revival series wouldn’t have been possible.

“Well, my idea was, and it’s online so people can look it up — by the way, thank God, we didn’t do it because we wouldn’t be having this conversation now — is that, whatever the episode is, plays out, and then, suddenly, Dexter goes, ‘(GASPS!)’ and we think, ‘Oh, s—, he’s waking up from a dream. You’re really doing that to us?’ But really, what he’s doing, he’s waking up on the execution table and all of his victims in the witness area [are there],” Phillips explained. “We see [John] Lithgow, Jimmy Smits and Jamie Murray and all the weekly victims are witnessing his execution. And then, whatever brilliant voiceover that we would write would come up and then the show would end. And had we done that, we wouldn’t be making this fantastic show we’re making right now.”

The Dexter revival will pick up about a decade after the original series finale, which aired in 2013. Dexter is now living in the fictional small town of Iron Lake, which is located in Upstate New York. In addition to Hall, the new season will also star Jennifer Carpenter, who played Dexter’s sister Debra in the show’s original run. It’s also been announced that Lithgow will reprise his award-winning role as the Trinity Killer.

Hall previously opened up about the forthcoming new season of Dexter and seemed to imply that more episodes could be approved in the future. Speaking to NME, Hall talked about the revival and was asked if this will mark the end of the franchise. “I’m reluctant to say ‘definitely’, you know? Let’s see,” he replied. “What’s plain now is that there’s 10 new episodes.”

Hall also offered some thoughts on how it has felt to step back into the role eight years after the original run ended. “I don’t really know what to expect, as I’ve never returned to a job after so much time. Having Dexter in a completely different context, we’ll see how that feels,” he said. “It’s been interesting to figure out how to do that and I thought it was time to find out what the hell happened to him.” Dexter: New Blood debuts Sunday, Nov. 7, only on Showtime.