Things are getting shaken up in the Dexter-verse. Michael C. Hall’s crime-solving serial killer recently returned in Dexter: New Blood, but it was recently reported that a planned second season has been scrapped. Instead, Paramount Plus is merging with Showtime and are going ahead with a prequel series focusing on a young Dexter instead. In addition, they are also looking at a spin-off featuring the origin story of John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer – one of the best characters in the series.
If the plans go ahead, it sounds as though neither Michael C. Hall or John Lithgow will return to their roles. New actors will be cast as a young Dexter and presumably a younger Arthur Mitchell (AKA The Trinity Killer). The spin-off may focus on Arthur’s relationship with his sister Vera – whose death was a big source of trauma for him.
The Young Dexter prequel, which is being shepherded by longtime Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, “will be set in Dexter’s hometown of Miami, and will touch on stories of real-life serial killers of the time period,” says the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Paramount Plus is also developing several spin-offs of the long-running Showtime drama series Billions. They are looking to follow the Yellowstone model, which has ballooned into a huge franchise. Ironically, this follows the news that the main Yellowstone show may soon be ending due to reports that Kevin Costner no longer wants to commit so much time to filming.
Serial killer TV shows have been back in the news recently due to the popularity of Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer series, which reignited the debate about glorifying and fetishizing real-life serial killers. True crime will always be controversial, but Dexter (and the sadly missed Hannibal) has avoided most of this due to being fictional.
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