Dexter is one of the best shows to watch on Showtime, and in recent years the franchise expanded with three spinoffs. Those with a premium Paramount+ subscription were treated to both Dexter: Original Sin and more recently Resurrection, which just aired its finale. Showrunner Clyde Phillips recently spoke about Original Sin's cancellation, as well as original plans for even more prequels.
Despite originally being renewed for Season 2, fans were shocked when Dexter: Original Sin ended up being cancelled after all. This is a real bummer, especially because I loved how the cast's amazing impressions of the original Dexter cast. While appearing on the Dissecting Dexter podcast, Phillips (who created Original Sin) got honest about the show being scrapped. In his words:
It was a tough phone call that I got that night. They had already picked up the show, and I’d informed all the writers and informed all the actors, and then they un-picked it up. It wasn’t handled well, and I’m not happy about it.
Ouch. Some of the cast of Original Sin have posted about its cancellation, which obviously came to a huge surprise to everyone involved. As the creator and showrunner, I can only imagine how Phillips is still feeling. After all, he presumably had plans for how to continue the prequel series, and get Patrick Gibson's protagonist closer to the Dexter we know and love. Alas, we'll seemingly never get to see those worlds collide over at Miami Metro.
At the time of writing this, there have been three spinoffs to the flagship series. New Blood started it off, picking up after the controversial Dexter finale. After that came Original Sin, and then Resurrection. The latter brought back a number of OGs, including David Zayas's Angel Bautista, Desmond Harrington's Joey Quinn, and C.S. Lee's Vince Masuka.
During the same podcast, Phillips claimed former Paramount boss Chris McCarthy wanted to keep expanding the Dexter franchise... before Paramount’s merger with Skydance changed things. As he put it:
He wanted me to be his new Taylor Sheridan. We plotted out a couple of years of this, looking forward to introducing new characters.
This is a reference to the Yellowstone franchise, which is constantly being expanded with new spinoffs. Clyde Phillips had a number of these types of prequels in the works, including ones about James Doakes and Captain Matthews. There was also another Dexter show being formed around Jon Lithgow's Trinity Killer, aka one of the franchise's best villains. Phillips shared doubts about whether or not we'll ever see that project now, saying:
If they cancel Original Sin, which is a built-in hit, how are they going to pick up Trinity? If they do, I’d be delighted, but I don’t see them doing it.
He's got a point. If Showtime dropped Original Sin after it had been officially renewed, it seems unlikely that we'll get more spinoffs. But fans are likely going to keep their fingers crossed in hopes of seeing Trinity back. Luckily, Lithgow did have a small but memorable cameo in Resurrection.
The entire Dexter franchise is streaming with on Paramount+ with Showtime. Only time will tell if the property is done forever, of if we'll get to see more of Michael C. Hall's signature character on the small screen. At the time of writing this story, Resurrection hasn't been renewed for Season 2.
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