Premiering Friday on Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime, the sequel series gives the serial killer a new hunting ground — New York City.
1 of 3 | Michael C. Hall returns as serial killer Dexter Morgan in “Dexter: Resurrection,” premiering Friday. Photo by Pari Dukovic/Paramount+ with Showtime
Michael C. Hall says the titular serial killer’s murder of an innocent man at the end of Dexter: New Blood continues to have dire ramifications in Dexter: Resurrection, particularly concerning his teen son Harrison.
New Blood aired in 2021 and showed Dexter living in a sleepy upstate New York town about a decade after faking his death because the authorities were closing in on him.
The season saw Dexter go back to killing bad guys after a long hiatus, just as Harrison (Jack Alcott) arrives and wants to reunite with him. It ends with Dexter killing a sheriff’s deputy to escape an impossible situation, which greatly upsets Harrison, and leads to him shooting Dexter, then leaving town.
“He welcomed Harrison into his process at a time when I think he was really fantasizing that Harrison could be like him,” Hall, 54, told UPI in a Zoom interview Wednesday.
“The journey Dexter took Harrison on in New Blood was one that revealed just how isolated and fundamentally lonely Dexter is,” he laughed. “He’s horrified by the notion that his son is like him, but also really seduced by the idea. It, obviously, went horribly wrong and backed the characters into a corner where Dexter felt like the only way out was to invite his son to shoot him.”
Premiering Friday on Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime, Resurrection shows that Harrison’s gunshot wasn’t fatal.
Dexter wakes up from a coma in a hospital and immediately heads out to look for Harrison with his old friend, Miami Metro Police Department Homicide Captain Angel Batista (David Zayas), hot on his trail.
“It did kill something,” Hall said of Harrison’s attempt to end Dexter’s life.
“What it did away with was Dexter’s penance, his carrying around his past,” Hall said. “It was sort of the final gauntlet that he had to pass through, so that he could put it down and move forward in a way that allows him to reclaim who he really is and that’s how we find Dexter in the midst of this second chance at life, being in this new Iteration.”
Dexter’s late sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) is no longer a figment of his imagination in Resurrection. Instead, his dead homicide detective father Harry (James Remar) returns as the conscience who reminds him of the code he must kill by, if he doesn’t want to get caught and spend the rest of his life in prison.
“The internalized version of Deb that was present with him in New Blood was very severe and reflected Dexter’s own sort of, I don’t know about self loathing, but an inclination of punishing himself for all the missteps he’s he’s made,” Hall said.
“The fact that she’s gone and Harry’s returned suggests that maybe he’s crossed that bridge and is back in the good graces of a more loving, internal relationship and his father is there, but not in the same way. I think Dexter is pushing back against a relationship that has his father just hectoring him and admonishing him and telling him what to do and what not to do.”
Hall noted this dynamic is typical of adult sons’ bonds’ with their fathers — to a point.
“The relationship evolves and changes and becomes more one of peers and, in some cases, I think, Dexter thinks he knows better than his father,” Hall said.
“It was fun over the course of the season to feel that relationship with Harry evolve into one that was more human, in a way, with less, sort of, strictly defined roles in terms of how they interact.”
Resurrection sees Dexter becoming a ride-share driver so he can stalk new villains and spy on Harrison, who is trying to start a new life himself, working in a posh New York City hotel.
“It’s a playground unlike any other for him,” Hall said.
“It’s a place where one could plausibly encounter the kinds of characters he encounters in this season. It’s also a place where people have always gone to claim themselves, or redefine themselves, and that’s sort of what Dexter is up to,” the actor added.
“It’s a place where you can be in the sea of people and also be anonymous and invisible and hide in plain sight, which he likes to do, so, it’s a great new landscape for him to exist.”
Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Kadia Saraf, Dominic Fumusa and Emilia Suárez co-star.
‘Dexter: Resurrection’: Michael C. Hall, Uma Thurman attend premiere
Star Michael C. Hall arrives on the red carpet at the world premiere of “Dexter: Resurrection” in New York City on July 9, 2025. Photo by Derek French/UPI | License Photo
