Dexter: New Blood Cancelled as Showtime Considers Young Dexter Prequel

Dexter fans are in for a roller coaster with today’s news as TV Line reports that the revival series Dexter: New Blood has quietly been cancelled by the premium cable network. Though there was never any indication that another batch of episodes were in the works at all, talk of even more, coupled with the show’s impressive ratings, made it seem like a distinct possibility. As the outlet reports, despite a follow-up to Dexter: New Blood focusing on his son Harrison being in the works, the network has instead opted to go a different route and will potentially develop a Young Dexter TV series.

The idea of “Young Dexter” is apparently just one of a few ideas that Showtime is considering, though no other examples were given in the report. As fans of the original series will recall there were a lot of flashbacks within the original run of Dexter to his time as a young man, largely showing how his adoptive-father Harry coached him into becoming the prolific serial killer that would stalk Miami for decades. There are probably a lot of avenues that could still be explored in that era, though one assumes that actor James Remar wouldn’t reprise his Harry-role again. 

A major reason that Dexter: New Blood was so successful however was almost certainly the return of Michael C. Hall to the role that made him a household name. Dexter: New Blood average more than 8 million viewers with every episodes, quickly making it the the most-watched series in Showtime history, and the return of Hall in the role almost certainly had something to do with that. This naturally brings up the question, if a Young Dexter series does happen, are they going to find a way to bring Hall into it somehow? 

“I’ve learned to say never say never about anything, you know, the show ended in a pretty definitive way in this final reboot season, I don’t have any calendar date to mark when I’ll be pretend to play that guy anymore,” Hall previously said in an appearance on the Lipps Service podcast. “I feel proud of the whole of it, and I’m glad that we went back and revisited the character and gave the show a sort of ending it needed… I think [smiles]. I don’t know, it’s kinda nice to be released.”  

It was announced earlier this week that Showtime will be merging with the Paramount+ streaming service. Moving forward the service will be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime. The change will happen sometime later this year and will apply only in the United States.