“People found the way [the] show left things pretty unsatisfying, and there’s always been a hope that a story would emerge that would be worth telling,” Michael C. Hall, who inhabited the titular character for years, told The Daily Beast. “I include myself in the group of people that wondered, ‘What the hell happened to that guy?’ So, I’m excited to step back into it. I’ve never had that experience of playing a character this many years on.” Earlier this year, original Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips told The Hollywood Reporter to expect a time jump with the reboot. “We basically do get to start from scratch,” he explained. “Ten years, or however many years, have passed by the time this will air, and the show will reflect that time passage. So far as the ending of the show, this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was. It’s a great opportunity to write a second finale.” Need a refresher? Here’s exactly how the original Dexter series ended, why it ended, why fans didn’t embrace it and more.
How did Dexter end?
In the final episode of Dexter—called “Remember the Monsters?"—Dexter’s cop-sister, Deb (played by Jennifer Carpenter) was shot. In the hospital, she suffered a stroke that left her in a permanently vegetative state and ultimately, Dexter pulled her life support and dumped her body in the ocean. Meanwhile, Hannah (Yvonne Strahovski)—Dexter’s on-and-off-again partner in both life and in crime—has escaped to Buenos Aires to raise Dexter’s son, Harrison. They learn that Dexter has apparently committed suicide—and at first, the viewer thinks Dexter has, too. But cut to the very last scene of Dexter and it’s clear he’s alive and well. He faked his own death, assumed a new identity and began working for a lumber company in Oregon where it was inferred that he would attempt to suppress his “dark passenger,” the side of him that needs (and wants) to kill.
Why did Dexter end?
Though the series successfully ran from 2006 to 2013, there were a lot of interesting things unfolding behind the scenes on the set of Dexter. The bulk of it? Relationship drama. Although they played brother and sister on screen, in real life, Carpenter and Hall tied the knot in 2006 after two seasons of filming Dexter together. But their marriage only lasted until 2011—and even after they split, the show kept filming. Eventually, Carpenter begged to be killed off. “In a strange way, I wanted her [death] to be a suicide,” Carpenter told TheHollywoodReporter after the finale aired. “I wanted Deb to take the one thing that was totally alive in his life away. But how it played out was much better. Deb deserved to die an organic death. Yes, she was shot, but it was something that she signed up for long before she ever joined the force.” Carpenter added, “I was really satisfied. It was incredibly cathartic for me as an actor to set it down in such a way. The way Dexter sets her body in the water is how I felt like I was able to let it drift.” When asked why she thought her character ought to die, Carpenter said, “When I’ve been saying that in the press, it’s been for selfish reasons. Your readers deserve an element of truth when you’re talking about something that they care enough to read about. I wanted them to see the truth; I did want her to die. But it was more about me. Deb deserves some peace.” She continued, “She always would have been making sure she was piling enough dirt on the secrets that existed with Dexter. I’m not sure a happy ending was possible for her. This was her happy ending.” It’s rumored that one of the main reasons Carpenter and Hall called it quits in real life was that Hall began an affair with another co-star, JuliaStiles, who guest-starred as Lumen Ann Pierce. Of course, Stiles denied allegations that she had something to do with their breakup.
Was Dexter the worst ending ever?
The finale of Dexter is largely considered one of the worst TV show endings ever—up there with Lost and arguably, even Game of Thrones. Many fans, of course, hated that Dexter ultimately killed his sister (by pulling her off life support) but also weren’t satisfied with Dexter faking his own death and leaving his son to be raised by someone else. In fact, it’s taken years for Hall to admit it, but he, too, didn’t love how Dexter ended. He said at a press event in August 2021, “The show did not end in a way that was definitive for people and didn’t give anyone closure. We didn’t hear from Dexter. It left audiences… in a sense of suspended animation.” As if Hall’s reaction to the finale isn’t shocking enough, showrunner Phillips also added in a 2021 interview with Variety that the show “lost its way” long before the Season 8 finale. “I think the show in the last couple of years of its original incarnation lost its way,” Philips said. “It was only seeing as far into the future as the headlights on a car and had broken the covenant with the audience about everything that Dexter does has to be code-worthy.” But one person who was satisfied with the ending? Carpenter. Or at least, she was satisfied with her character’s exit. “I played my character from A to Z, but I don’t necessarily think that Dexter is done,” Carpenter said in 2013. “It’s still deliciously hanging untied; there’s too much intrigue and too much of the appetite for it to completely be unresolved by this finale. Maybe somewhere down the line I wouldn’t be surprised if something happens.” And now, in 2021, Hall admits that the haphazard way the original show ended is exactly the reason it can come back for a new reiteration so many years later. “I think the way the series proper ended has a great deal to do with why we are revisiting this show. A lot of what was mystifying to people is… what creates the appetite that we hope to satisfy now,” Hall explained. “A big part of our motivation is to definitively answer the question of what happened to this guy.”
Why did Dexter kill Deb?
One of the main criticisms of the Dexter finale is that Dexter killed Deb by turning off her life support. While Carpenter was adamant that her character not die at Dexter’s own hand, he ultimately was the one to take her life. “[Showrunner] Scott Buck had me in his office and we talked a bit about [killing my character off],” Carpenter said. “He wasn’t sure how it was going to spin. There were three different scenarios that they were playing out. The only thing I didn’t want was for Dexter to kill her.” Yet—even though she was shot and suffered a stroke as a result—it was ultimately Dexter who pulled the plug. Literally. “She would have wanted him to have the moment where he would have had to consider it, where he couldn’t help himself but to get emotional about it,” Carpenter explained. “I have to believe, unfortunately, that Deb dies not knowing how Dexter feels about her. She doesn’t have access to his feelings, which is all she ever wanted.” Still, many fans have wondered: Why did Dexter decide to take his sister off life support? Over the years, we haven’t been given many satisfying, definitive answers, but most viewers have inferred one thing: After the gunshot and then subsequently, the stroke, Deb would have been left in a vegetative state. Many have surmised that Dexter’s choice was a compassionate one—that he chose for his sister to go peacefully rather than live off of a ventilator.
Why did Dexter fake his death?
The first disappointing part of the Dexter finale was that Deb died—basically at Dexter’s hand. The second part was that Dexter faked his own suicide by steering his boat into a hurricane, thereby leaving Hannah to raise his son. But why? Many have speculated that Deb’s death was the catalyst for Dexter realizing he couldn’t be a “normal” father or even a “normal” person. Her demise opened his eyes to the monster he was; no moral argument could reason that away for him anymore. Ultimately, Dexter may have abandoned his son in order to give Harrison the best chance at life—a life without a murderous dad. “We wanted to leave it all in the viewers’ head,” showrunner Buck told Deadlinein 2013. “I don’t know what [Dexter’s] thinking in that [final] moment; I know he’s in this self-imposed prison and the reason he locked eyes is essentially so we can feel as uncomfortable as he does in his world.” Buck added, “He’s someone who was just moments from taking that final step toward humanity who then has to face himself as the monster he believes he is and decide his own fate. He gives himself what he deserves. I don’t think in that moment he’s fighting the urge to kill; he’s dealing with the reality of the misery of his life in that moment.” Next up, everything you need to know about Dexter: New Blood.
