Renewals and Cancellations: Showtime Cancels 'Dexter' and Reboots 'Dexter'

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 1, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 1, 2023 |

I am a big fan of the first four seasons of Dexter and the final season, Dexter: New Blood, which introduced a teenage version of Dexter’s son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), who had some serial-killer tendencies of his own. New Blood was a big hit. Dexter is the biggest series in Showtime history, and it’s unlikely that Michael C. Hall will ever return to it, so it made sense that Showtime (now cumbersomely called Paramount+ with Showtime) would bring back the series for a second season of New Blood that would follow Harrison’s serial-killing travails.

But no. Showtime has canceled New Blood and — according to TVLine — is mulling a prequel series focused on a Young Dexter. This is a terrible idea. Michael C. Hall cannot play a Young Dexter or Harrison, so what’s the point of a prequel when we know how it will end? People like Dexter because of 1) the premise, and 2) Michael C. Hall. The latter is out. The premise works for both a Young Dexter and a Harrison Morgan, so why not choose the option with more open-ended possibilities that also doesn’t require setting it in the ’80s unless setting it in the ’80s is the appeal? Either way, good luck matching “Young Dexter” to all the teenage flashbacks in Dexter, including Dexter’s father, Harry Morgan, who doesn’t look like this anymore:

In fact, the only way theoretically possible to bring back Michael C. Hall would be to make him the Dark Passenger in a continuation of the existing New Blood series. Showtime’s decision is inexplicable.

In other news, NBC has renewed La Brea for a third and likely final season, but — and get ready to see a lot of orders like these — it’s expected to only be six episodes because of an anticipated writers’ strike. I’m sure we’ll end up discussing the strike a lot in the upcoming months, but if it happens, it will probably last a long time and may continue to hasten the demise of broadcast networks while streamers like Netflix — with months of built-up content — will continue to push their competitive advantage. Ironically, the strike will be over streaming fees, but it’s the streamers who will be hurt less by it.

Elsewhere, in case you missed it, Hulu is rebooting King of the Hill. I have no problem with this.

Meanwhile, CBS has greenlit a Matlock reboot starring Kathy Bates, which sounds right. I don’t hate the idea. They also greenlit a The Good Wife/The Good Fight spin-off, Elsbeth, which I assume will end up on Paramount+. It’s based on the phenomenal Carrie Preston character, who will move to New York. Robert and Michelle King are back to write the series, and the Kings always produce great content. I’m weirdly glad to see The Good Wife continue on after 13 seasons. Oh, and CBS is also doing a series centered on Watson that will not include Sherlock.