‘Dexter’: How Jennifer Carpenter’s Deb Will Return in ‘New Blood’ Revival

Dexter fans can rejoice knowing Deb (played by Jennifer Carpenter) will be playing some sort of role in Showtime‘s Dexter revival series, Dexter: New Blood. Variety reports that the character will play a major role in the upcoming update, which is shocking considering that she died in the original series finale. As a moral compass during his time away while on the run, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) recreates the memory of his dead sister Debra to communicate with as a voice of reason –– basically replacing his image of his adoptive father Harry (James Remar).

“Deb’s character says later in a later episode, basically what Harry did could be considered child abuse,” showrunner Clyde Phillips told the outlet. “To take your son who you’ve rescued from being born in blood and who’s out killing dogs in the neighborhood and then channeling him to use his force for good and go out and kill bad people is not the healthiest psychiatric situation to be in. And I think Deb…represents a corner of Dexter’s mind that we all have in our own heads that says, ‘Well, wait a minute. If you do this, then here are the consequences and then you decide whether or not to do it whether or not to pursue it.’”

With rumors swirling about the show for years and continued questions as to if she would return for the installment, Carpenter admits she enjoyed the idea of a new take on the character. “I didn’t really feel like I wanted to go back and fix a broken score,” Carpenter said, adding that she wanted to “massage [Deb’s] scar tissue.” “I feel like Deb had a different ending than the show. So, I decided that my work was to go to the bottom of the ocean and collect her and see if she wanted to be a witness to watch an unmedicated, decoded, unpunished, unchecked serial killer experience himself.”

Dexter: New Blood will take on a much different format, EP Scott Reynolds shared. Joining Carpenter and Hall among the cast is Jamie Chung, who also teased that the show is much “darker” than the original show. The team admits that a large reason behind revisiting the story is due to how the original show ended, which didn’t go over well among fans. “I certainly do hope that watching the show is a satisfying experience for people who watched it originally and are curious about what happened to him,” Hall offered. “I certainly hope it does provide some definitive answers that aren’t primarily mystifying to people.” The revival series will premiere on Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.