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Dexter: New Blood ending explained

Dexter: New Blood gives fans of Michael C Hall's serial killer a new ending - what happens exactly, and will there be another season?

How does Dexter: New Blood end? The sequel TV series to Dexter found our favourite serial killer living a new life in the quiet, snowy town of Iron Lake, in New York. Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall) is now Jim Lindsay, happily running a hunting supplies store and dating the local police chief, Angela Bishop (Johnny Sequoyah).

But his dark passenger still looms, now appearing in the form of Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), his step-sister who died at the end of season 8. When Harrison (Jack Halcott), his estranged son, arrives at his doorstep Dexter starts wrangling with fatherhood in addition to his urges, and it all gradually spirals out of control.

Dexter manages to subdue new antagonist Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), but he struggles to keep the Iron Lake police department from sniffing around suspicious disappearances. Ultimately, it all goes pear-shaped in a way even the uber-careful Dexter can’t contain. How does it all shake out for the killer of killers? Who survives? Where does Harrison end up? We’ve got all the clues on the Bay Harbour Butcher, for your reading pleasure.

What happens in the final episode of Dexter: New Blood?

We finally see Dexter, usually calm and methodical, snap. In Dexter: New Blood’s last episode, he’s arrested by Angela, who finds evidence he murdered Matt, and believes him to be the Bay Harbour Butcher. They have a tense interrogation, where Dexter points to Kurt Calldwell for Matt’s murder, creating doubt in Angela’s case. However, the evidence for him being responsible for all those deaths in Miami is another story.

Dexter gets Harrison to stay at the Iron Lake inn while he waits in his holding cell. Deb, the new Dark Passenger, haunts him, and when he asks for water, he kills sergeant Logan. Aware that killing a cop in a police station is very difficult to cover up, he begins his escape, stealing an Iron Lake PD vehicle, and arranging a spot to pick up Harrison in the surrounding woods.

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But when Dexter arrives, Harrison is reluctant. Logan didn’t fit the code: he wasn’t evil that needed to be cleansed. Harrison understands that all of this has been about Dexter serving his own needs. He killed because he wanted to, because he liked it, and now Harrison’s paying the price by leaving behind everything he knows – again.

Dexter: New Blood ending explained: Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan

They have a tense standoff where Harrison points a rifle at Dexter, who encourages his son to pull the trigger. Harrison does so, and Angela arrives just after. She gives Harrison some money and directions to drive away and never look back, while she covers up the scene around Dexter’s body.

Dexter delivers one last inner monologue, talking about how he’s proud of Harrison. As he’s driving through Iron Lake, Harrison reads a letter from his father, who recounts having to stay away from his estranged child out of fear that he’d drag them into the same darkness that has imprisoned him. A cavalcade of State Trooper vehicles pass Harrison’s pickup truck heading into Iron Lake, the reinforcements Angel Batista has brought with him from Miami to arrest Dexter.

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The letter finishes, and Harrison keeps driving. Yes, he’s had to move away, but this is the last time. Finally, Dexter and his dark passenger are done hurting people, good and bad. Unconventional justice it may be, it’s only right that Dexter be brought down by his own flesh and blood, someone who brought new understanding to the code. Now, nobody gets caught in the crossfire of those rules any more.

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Is Dexter really dead?

Very much so. He was shot on-screen and we watched him bleed out. There’s no ambiguity in the writing or setting about his fate. There was no way he’d ever allow himself to stand trial, that would break his most important rule: don’t get caught.

An air of weariness hung over this season. Dexter was aware there’s only so long he can keep all of this up. Harrison complicated matters, and really, Dexter stopped caring about himself as much as making sure his child had a better life. Enough family members had died, Harrison was going to be different, and that led to the son murdering the father to bring it all to a bloody end.

Dexter: New Blood ending explained: Michael C Hall and Jack Alcott as Dexter Morgan and Harrison Morgan

Will there be another season of Dexter: New Blood?

Doubtful. The title character is dead, delivering a far more definitive, and satisfying, conclusion than the one from Dexter season 8. Everything is tied up in a way that makes more feel unnecessary, and at risk of hurting a thematically resonant closing chapter.

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Clyde Phillips, showrunner on New Blood, has expressed interest in doing more with Harrison. He says it’s all up to Showtime. So, it might happen, but for now, all dark passengers have reached their destinations, and the road ahead is looking clear for once.