How Michael C. Hall resurrected ‘Dexter’: “He craves redemption”

This summer, actor Michael C. Hall will celebrate a strange – but significant – anniversary. “In August, it will be 20 years since we shot the pilot,” he says. He’s talking about Dexter of course – the Emmy-winning serial killer drama in which he stars. Eight seasons, followed by multiple spin-offs, has kept him very busy these past two decades. “It’s so beyond anything any of us expected.”

It’s a Saturday at the end of May when NME speaks to Hall over Zoom. He’s currently in Mexico City, prepping for an appearance on a panel in front of a room full of Dexter devotees at CCXP Mexico 2025, alongside co-star David Zayas, showrunner Clyde Phillips and executive producer/writer Scott Reynolds. No doubt, the major question on everyone’s lips is how exactly is Dexter Morgan back from the dead?

The 2021 10-episode mini-series Dexter: New Blood finished with Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott) shooting him in the chest in a wintry forest. As Phillips told entertainment site Deadline at the time of New Blood, “I have three words for you: Dexter is dead. I wouldn’t do that to the audience. It would be dishonest. Here, there is no question that this is the finale of Dexter. Dexter is dead.” But then this is Hollywood, and things change.

Was the 54-year-old Hall convinced it was all over at the time of shooting New Blood? “I thought that was it,” he admits, freely, “but there had been some – somewhat in jest – conversations I’d had casually about, if nothing else, the recognition that he didn’t get shot in the head, and it was very cold on that forest floor, so it remained a remote possibility. But I didn’t think that he would [actually] get revived.”

When Hall spoke to series director Marcos Siega, the idea of Dexter returning gained momentum. “I found myself increasingly compelled by the notion that the end of the New Blood series could represent some threshold he could cross that would perhaps lead him back to something he’s probably been longing for since halfway through the season proper – a return to a more unencumbered relationship to his code [that only ensures he kills deserving cases] and who he actually is. And maybe there was some sort of burden that he’d been carrying for some time that he could be released from.”

Of course, fans have been prepped for the character’s revival by 2024’s Dexter: Original Sin, a 10-episode prequel that flashed back to Dexter’s early years when he joins the Miami Metro Police Department as a forensic technician shortly after he succumbs to his compulsion to act as a vigilante serial killer. Starring Patrick Gibson as the young Dexter, Hall acts as the narrator, with the show framed by the immediate moments after his shooting, as he’s rushed to a hospital to be revived, or ‘resurrected’ as it’s now being termed.

Given the father-son storyline at the heart of the new show, it could just as easily be dubbed Dexter: Redemption. “The word redemption is a very good one,” says Hall. “[Dexter] craves a sense of redemption, a sense that he can’t undo the past and the collateral damage that his indulgence in human relationships has resulted in. But he does have a desire to, in his twisted way, make things right. And yes, the relationship with his son is part of that. He craves contact with his son… and he’s daunted by the prospect of rejection, that his son would prefer his father stay dead, and that he doesn’t want him, doesn’t need him.”

New city, new secrets Michael C. Hall is back in #DexterResurrection July 11 on #ParamountPlus with SHOWTIME  pic.twitter.com/6eczEjBTVn

— Dexter (@SHO_Dexter) May 31, 2025

While New Blood was set in the fictional town of Iron Lake, New York, Resurrection moves the story onto the Big Apple, with Dexter trailing his son in the hope of reconnecting with him. “Of course, he still is who he is, and he’s always been a bit of a magnet for darkness or unsafe characters,” says Hall, “and New York reveals itself to be a really suitable place to encounter that and a suitable place to hide in plain sight.”

The central plot of Resurrection sees Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage cast as Leon Prater, a billionaire venture capitalist who, as Hall explains, “has a shadow fetish for killers”. So much so, he’s decided to gather them all together for a meeting of some very sick minds. With those killers played by such esteemed performers as Neil Patrick Harris, Krysten Ritter and David Dastmalchian – a real nod to just how respected the show has become in the acting community – this “seems like a perfect way for Dexter to trip into a smörgåsbord of victims”, says Hall.

Nothing brings people together like a shared interest Meet the serial killers of #DexterResurrection – premiering July 11 on #ParamountPlus with SHOWTIME pic.twitter.com/0mEd84FlIU

— Dexter (@SHO_Dexter) June 2, 2025

Even more impressive is the casting of Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman, who plays Charley, Prater’s Head of Security.  “All of us were pinching ourselves. She’s an icon,” says Hall, who admits to a little fanboying. “My first scene with Uma was in a car that she was driving. She was wearing sunglasses, is armed and is giving nothing away. It was a challenge just to remind myself that my primary relationship was with the character she was playing, and not the fact that I was sitting in a car with Uma Thurman.”

The first episode of Dexter: Resurrection also features some choice soundtrack cuts, including Talking Heads and Nick Cave. “The whole needle drop technique, it’s not something that we did early on, and it can transform a sequence,” admits Hall. Does he have a favourite?  “There’s a Black Sabbath cut at the top of [episode] two. That’s pretty cool,” he says, keeping the specific track a secret for now. And, no, using Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’ was never on the table. “Bit too on the nose!” he grins.

So how different is the Dexter we meet in Resurrection from the one seen in those early episodes two decades ago?  “He’s discovered and developed an appetite for his own humanity that didn’t exist when we first met him,” replies Hall. “But there is a return to form in terms of his relationship to the code, in terms of his respect for the wisdom of it, and his being seduced into playing fast and loose with those rules is gone. He’s ready to get back to basics, in a way.”

Nominated for six Emmys for his work on Dexter, Hall claims he’s not the best person to unpack the enduring popularity of the show but offers an eloquent explanation. “People relish the chance to spend time with someone who, in his corner of the world, is taking control. And there’s something about the character and the way he’s presented – the voiceover element, the subjective way in which the story is played – that brings an audience along for his ride and maybe implicates them to a degree. There’s something about it that hooks people in a magic way.”

So what next? More magic? Clyde Phillips has already called Resurrection “a unique launching pad” for further adventures of the most popular serial killer since Hannibal Lecter. Unlike New Blood and Original Sin, which were both one-off series, Resurrection looks set to continue. “I don’t think we embarked on this season with the plan to resolve things, or tie anything up in a bow,” says Hall. “There will potentially be more beyond this.” The Resurrection is truly underway.

‘Dexter: Resurrection’ premieres on Paramount + from July 11

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