There are spoilers for both Dexter and Dexter: New Blood down below. If you want to catch up on Dexter: Original Sin, you can check it out with a Paramount+ subscription when it premieres on December 13, or check it out live on Showtime on December 15.
If you clicked on this story, you probably have some knowledge about Dexter, as well as its follow-up series, Dexter: New Blood. You may even know that for or a time, it seemed like the story of Dexter was over, but then Dexter: Original Sin was announced, continuing the legendary tale. At first, I was confused as to why a prequel even seemed like the right next step, but creator and showrunner Clyde Phillips broke it down quickly for me – and now, it makes so much sense.
If you need a refresher, Dexter followed the titular character, a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department by day and a killer by night, who took out evil people to satisfy his own dark urges. The original series, which ran for eight seasons, is honestly one of the best Showtime shows. The series was so popular it spawned a sequel standalone series called Dexter: New Blood, following Dexter and his biological son years down the road, but now Dexter: Original Sin is the latest addition, this time following Dexter's origins with his killings, his family, and more.
Even though I'm an avid Dexter fan and have been for years, I was curious why Dexter: Original Sin happened since the explosive New Blood finale tied up Dexter's life. But when I spoke to Clyde Phillips about the creation of Original Sin, the creator admitted the plan initially was to make a sequel to New Blood. However, because of who he worked with at Paramount – specifically Chris McCarthy from the über-successful Yellowstone franchise – he and his team decided to make a prequel.
It turns out it was McCarthy who requested one:
Well, it's an interesting question. New Blood was a standalone and was Showtime's biggest series ever. And they immediately ordered a sequel to it. And I got my writers back together, we wrote all ten episodes of the sequel for Showtime, for Gary Levine – and then Chris McCarthy from MTV Entertainment and Paramount took over and said, 'I'm not in the sequel business. I do Yellowstone, and I do 1883 and 1923.' And so it turns out I had watched all of 1883, 1923 and all of Yellowstone up to that time; I was such a huge fan. And he said to me, 'Can you come up with a way to get a prequel going in the next 10 days?'
I mean 10 days, wow, but this makes total sense. Yellowstone is huge and has been for years, and there are so many upcoming Yellowstone shows that people keep loving, even following Kevin Costner's exit from the original series. The prequels for the show have been tremendous and very well-written, so it makes sense Phillips would go the prequel route if he had help from an executive producer like McCarthy.
The showrunner also told me that all he had to do was get some "friends" together and come up with a story for the prequel, and the head honcho loved the idea immediately. Which is how the new show came to fruition.
So I sat with some friends and bounced it around, went in. And had a meeting with Chris and Gary and pitched the show. And when I finished, Chris said, 'Phenomenal. Let's do it.' My favorite four words. So I immediately got my writers back together and we figured out how to do the Original Sin.
As someone who has rewatched Dexter countless times (despite the OG Dexter ending, which we shall not discuss), the show still holds up, and I still love watching the story play out. Yet, there is something so interesting in learning about Dexter's origins and how he became the man that we know him as when Dexter began.
He's not the smooth killer that we know him as when Dexter: Original Sin begins. He's a young man, just starting his life, trying to figure out how to satisfy that killer itch – and now, I can totally understand why Phillips went this route. There's nothing quite like seeing an antihero like Dexter form into who we know him as now, so sign me up.
