Dexter Morgan is back.
Michael C. Hall’s iconic TV anti-hero returns eight years after Showtime aired Dexter‘s infamous series finale. The new miniseries, Dexter: New Blood, takes place a decade after Dexter became a lumberjack. Also returning to the franchise is Clyde Phillips, the showrunner of Dexter‘s first four seasons.
Dexter: New Blood sees Dexter living a relatively normal life in Iron Lake, New York. Since his fresh start, he hasn’t killed anyone and he’s dating the town’s sheriff (Julia Jones). However, when a rash of crimes hits Iron Lake as Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott) shows up, Dexter finds himself slipping back towards his old habits. And he discovers a new Dark Passenger in Deb (Jennifer Carpenter).
The first reviews of Dexter: New Blood celebrate the show’s return to form, noting that it is better than Dexter‘s later seasons. However, critics note that the miniseries is not without its flaws, and is less compelling when compared with current TV shows.
Here’s what else critics have to say about Dexter: New Blood.
Neither better nor worse than the original
The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg
Based on four episodes, it can be said that Dexter: New Blood is neither as bad as seasons six through eight nor as good as seasons one through four. It’s a story about a man trying to move on and find a place in a new world, frustratingly told within a show that seems determined to pretend that nothing in the television landscape has changed at all.
Entertainment Weekly, Kristen Baldwin
New Blood is not Trinity good, nor is it lumberjack bad. Based on the four episodes made available for review, the revival is a solid effort at creative redemption.
Vulture, Jen Chaney
It feels premature to say that the Dexter saga has fully regained its footing, considering that critics were shown just four episodes in advance out of a total of ten… At the very least, though, credit should be given to Phillips, his collaborators, and the cast for accomplishing one thing that seemed like it couldn’t be done: Nearly a decade after that notorious finale, Dexter Morgan is intriguing again.
Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall
[Dexter: New Blood] is competently told but a bit dull. And, like its title character at this stage of his life, it seems too conflicted about all this blood and gore to enjoy any of it.
An intriguing new role for Deb
Uproxx, Kimberly Ricci
I’m fairly certain that we won’t be seeing any Hannah or Doakes during this revival, but Deb, man, she is a necessity. And the way that she appears, very early (and regularly) in this revival, is perfect. She might very well prove to be the lynchpin before all is said and done.
Entertainment Weekly, Kristen Baldwin
The relationship between Dexter Morgan — whose demeanor lands somewhere between deadpan and dead inside — and his volatile, foul-mouthed sister was always the heart of the original series. Phillips and his team put a compelling new spin on the dynamic here: Unlike Dexter’s adopted father Harry (James Remar), who served as his moral guide from beyond the grave, ghost Deb is more tormentor than mentor, prone to jump-scare attacks and expletive-filled rants.
How does Dexter: New Blood fit into today’s TV landscape?
Decider, Meghan O’Keefe
The best thing about Dexter: New Blood is that it is unapologetically fun. The episodes sent to critics are full of dark — borderline campy — humor and some truly compelling human drama. The vibe of Iron Lake is Twin Peaks-light. The needle drops are cheeky. The tone of the mystery closer to Hulu’s recent hit Only Murders in the Building than, say, Mare of Easttown.
The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg
It’s bad luck that Dexter is returning to TV just weeks after You dropped a season in which its main character also wonders how he could be a good father and a serial killer. The similarities don’t stop there, as You engaged this season with Missing White Woman Syndrome, while Dexter uses Iron Lake’s proximity to a Seneca Nation reservation to acknowledge, in fairly bland form, the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Michael C. Hall, still going strong
IndieWire, Ben Travers
Hall remains a talented two-face, able to convey a separation from other human beings even when Dexter’s “pretending” to enjoy their company, just as he’s capable of twisting his character from a man crushed by his own urges to a monster who’s only alive when he succumbs to them.
The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg
Hall hasn’t been given many new wrinkles for Dexter, but his dead-eyed bemusement remains one of TV’s best characterizations, and it’s nice to have Hall and Carpenter returning to a more originalist Dexter-Deb dynamic, one unsullied by the weirdness of later seasons.
Dexter: New Blood premieres at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7 on Showtime.
