The Dexter franchise appears to be continuing even after the finale of New Blood with the announcement of several new shows that are in active development at Showtime. These shows include a New Blood sequel, which will focus on Harrison in New York City after the events of the first season (where he killed his own father), as well as a Trinity killer prequel series set before the original Dexter show. As fans will remember, the Trinity killer was the main villain in season four, which was widely regarded as the best of the entire series. John Lithgow played Trinity in that season, and he also briefly reprised his role in New Blood, and is expected to return again here.
The other major show announcement was the reveal that a Dexter prequel series is in active development, showing the character’s early years in the Miami Metro police department and featuring other fan favorite characters like Deb, Harry, Batista, Doakes, and more. This show sounds promising, particularly as there’s a lot of room to explore in Dexter’s life prior to the beginning of the first season (even with the presence of the flashback sequences in the earlier seasons of the show), but it does appear to lack one critical element - the presence of Michael C. Hall. Hall has made the character of Dexter his own over the years, bringing such unique qualities to the role in a way that makes it difficult to envision anyone else playing Dexter but him, which could be detrimental to the new prequel series.
As stated, official details on the new prequel show say that key characters from the original run of the series will appear. Batista, Doakes, LaGuerta, and co. are all safe bets alongside Dexter’s sister and father. If this is the case, it’s highly likely that these roles are recast in order to keep up with the appropriate ages for these characters.
If that’s the case, then it means that Dexter will also be recast (unless the showrunners decide to age Michael C. Hall down like what was done in the original series, where he wore a relatively comical fake wig in order to demonstrate his younger age). That decision might end up being the sticking point for the show, as Hall has done so much for the character and the show and is a huge reason for why both are as iconic and popular as they still are today. It’s almost impossible to envision anyone else playing Dexter, which shows just how connected Hall is to the character. Many seemingly feel the same about other iconic characters in big franchises, such as Harrison Ford and Han Solo/Indiana Jones or Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man.
If Hall is absent from the show, then it could easily lack the charm of the original run. Hall is a truly charismatic lead, expertly navigating the complexities of playing a character like Dexter, who lacks emotions but still has close relationships with his family and friends and wants to keep them safe. Those sound like two very divergent character traits, but Hall somehow manages to pull it all together to make Dexter a believable person. Hall also does excellently to make Dexter a sympathetic character even as he kills a huge number of people throughout the course of the show. He is ultimately a psychopathic serial killer, so even as the people he’s executing might be evil themselves, he clearly has a lot of faults himself that could make him a dislikable character.
All of that is to say that Hall achieves quite a feat in his performance as Dexter, and one that truly makes the entire show around him tick. Therefore, a new actor playing Dexter in the prequel series would need to have a similar impact and walk the tightrope that is embodying the character, all while dealing with the massive expectations and eyes from fans that come with replacing an established actor in an iconic role.
That’s not to say that it can’t be done, though. The Young Indiana Jones show from the 1990s was proof that a younger actor could indeed take on such a task of playing an iconic hero, especially if given good material to work with. River Phoenix brought a similar uniqueness to the role as Harrison Ford did, while also making the role his own. Alden Ehrenreich arguably did the same thing as Han Solo in the spin-off film from 2018, even despite the poor box office performance of the film.
The jury is out on the newly announced Dexter prequel series, which certainly has potential but the lack of Michael C. Hall could be the key factor that derails the show. Still, it’s possible that the new actor brought on board could have a similar impact as Hall and set the show up for success moving forward.