Showtime and Paramount have cancelled a major Dexter series, despite having already announced a second season. The Dexter franchise is one of Paramount’s golden gooses. The series has been around for almost 20 years and fans continued to enjoy it, even through its weaker seasons. Despite originally ending in 2013, Dexter Morgan returned in 2021 for a sequel series known as Dexter: New Blood. Although that was intended to bring Michael C. Hall’s character to his definitive end, the franchise continued on with a prequel known as Dexter: Original Sin and then popular demand resulted in yet another sequel series with Hall known as Resurrection.
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More Dexter spin-offs including a Trinity Killer prequel series have been in the works as well, seemingly building off the formula of Paramount’s Yellowstone. Unfortunately, it appears that plan may be collapsing, though. Despite Dexter: Original Sin being greenlit for Season 2 earlier this year, Variety is reporting that the show has been completely cancelled. Instead, Paramount will choose to focus on Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 with plans to open a writer’s room imminently. Variety notes that a renewal for Dexter: Resurrection isn’t a guarantee, but the show has generated a strong reception critically and pulled in tons of viewership, so it feels like a safer bet.
Dexter: Original Sin‘s Cancellation Comes as a Shock
The news is fairly shocking given Dexter: Original Sin was also a big hit. The pilot was Showtime’s most streamed premiere in history at the time and the audience grew by 27% by the time the finale aired, leading to the series being Showtime’s most streamed series ever by February 2025. While fans are certainly more interested in the present day storyline surrounding Michael C. Hall’s take on the character in the well-received Dexter: Resurrection, Original Sin had earned its keep with fans.
It’s likely that the downsizing of the Dexter franchise is a result of Paramount’s new owners following the company’s merger with Skydance. Variety noted that exec Matt Thunell is evaluating the entire Showtime slate and has chosen to zero in on Hall’s version of Dexter Morgan for the future of the series.
ComicBook spoke separately with both young Dexter actor Patrick Gibson and showrunner Clyde Phillips about their hopes and dreams for future seasons of the show earlier this year. Phillips expressed excitement in depicting all of the things that eventually become signature to Dexter, such as his apartment, his kill suit, and much more.
“It will become the biggest Easter egg in the world. We need to see him grow in several ways,” said Phillips ahead of Dexter: Original Sin‘s finale. “You’ll have to learn how to blend better. He will have to learn how to kill better and more efficiently. So, next season, does he get his boat? Does he get his apartment? Does he start wearing the Henley? Does he start doing the red string thing? Those are things that we’re going to explore, it’ll be like coming home for the audience with the music, Michael [C. Hall]’s voice, which is crucial to the show.”
The duo had also vocalized interest in seeing the early days between Dexter and Sgt. James Doakes as that rivalry was quickly squashed in the second season of the original show. Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see any of that. Dexter: Original Sin also connected to Resurrection in very interesting ways, such as Harrison’s first kill paralleling Dexter’s outburst at a college party. Moments from that show have been frequently referenced in the new series, but those references will likely cease here.
It has been stated that Dexter: Resurrection is planned to have at least three seasons, but there’s room for more. Of course, given Original Sin Season 2 was abruptly cancelled, that could all change.
Would you have been interested in seeing Dexter: Original Sin continue? Let me know in the comments below.
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