1 of 6 | Michael C. Hall, seen at the 2024 premiere of “Dexter: Original Sin” in New York City, returns in “Dexter: Resurrection.” File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Dexter: Resurrection does not give the franchise as much of a fresh start as the revival Dexter: New Blood did in 2021. Once it resolves the loose threads from New Blood, however, it becomes a compelling new season of Dexter, premiering Friday on Paramount+ with Showtime.
The prequel Dexter: Original Sin already showed that Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) survived his seemingly fatal shooting at the end of New Blood. Resurrection opens with Dexter in rehab at a hospital in Iron Lake, N.Y., while his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), works at a New York City hotel.
As he recovers, Dexter once again starts seeing visions of his father Harry (James Remar). The explanation given, which won’t be spoiled, is as good as any, considering Harry is a voice in Dexter’s head.
The explanation of Dexter’s survival from a point-blank gunshot is even flimsier, but anyone still watching has implicitly agreed they wanted Dexter to live.
Cameos from other Dexter co-stars aren’t as satisfying for fans, given the context in which they appear. Dexter even makes a joke about it, seeming to acknowledge their iffy inclusion.
New Blood’s David Magidoff returns as Officer Reed, who provides a lot of explanation for Chief Angela Bishop’s (Julia Jones) absence. Angel Batista (David Zayas) even shows up from Miami to explain some remaining business from Seasons 2 and 8 in the original series.
While resetting the table, Resurrection does introduce some new story. Harrison saves a roofie victim and kills the rapist, disposing of him and cleaning up the scene using methods he learned from his father.
There is a certain glee in seeing Harrison take out a totally deserving creep, though his plans quickly go awry in an equally outrageous fashion. He’s not quite found out, but Detectives Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and Oliva (Dominic Fumusa) are on the case of the missing hotel guest.
Uma Thurman is introduced as a cat burglar and Dexter makes his way to New York, though much of the season revolves around deciding whether or not to let Harrison know he is still alive.
Episode 2 introduces a new serial killer who incurs Dexter’s ire. It is fun to see Dexter’s opposition to this killer both by his own code, and over petty quibbles.
Even with rehab, Dexter is physically compromised, giving a reasonable way to address an aging serial killer. He now has all of New York City to play with, including public transit and his job as a rideshare driver, though the show invents the service “Urcar.”
Dexter has to set up shop in New York, which means obtaining the drugs he uses to knock out his victims and setting up new kill rooms. Even maintaining his rideshare job introduces new demands, such as the accouterments customers expect and the need to maintain a high rating.
Harry is back to arguing with Dexter about his choices, a function he served in the original series and often proved to be right. Easter eggs from previous seasons also appear, much more organically than the ones in the season premiere.
Harrison continues to cover his tracks with the investigators and Dexter tries to help from afar. Dexter also finds a new surrogate family with the landlords from whom he rents a room, and who introduce him to Urcar.
Other characters appear in later episodes, so it would constitute spoilers to discuss Peter Dinklage, Krysten Ritter and others at length. Neil Patrick Harris changes his appearance considerably to play his role.
Where New Blood was more of a reinvention of Dexter, Resurrection is Season 2, or Season 10 if including the original series. Still, by addressing Dexter’s inevitable changes, it is a stronger new season than the original’s Seasons 5-8.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
