With Six Feet Under and Dexter, actor Michael C. Hall was part of two of the most beloved premium cable dramas of all time. Both of those shows feature series finales that fans could not stop talking about for years after, though with the Dexter camp being far more critical of that series' conclusion. When asked if he thinks viewers put too much critical emphasis on TV series finales, Hall was agreeable.
I mean, you know, I think people probably put too much import on series period. [Laughs] It’s like, I mean, people talk about watching Netflix like it’s their job. Like, ‘I’ve gotta get home and get to work.’ [Laughs] But, yeah. I think so. And I think that has to do with certain bars that certain shows have set. And maybe Six Feet Under is one of those. I mean, I definitely have had the sort of broad spectrum experience in terms of people’s reactions to finales.
Though he said it jokingly, Michael C. Hall was not shooting blanks with his first point about people that care far too much about TV shows in general. It definitely doesn't take a polarizing finale these days to get fans to call for riots and boycotts against a series. Hell, it sometimes only takes a subtle hint to send fans up the walls with rage.
Regardless of how "fair" it is or not, the quality of a TV finale can absolutely cloud fans' opinions about the series as a whole, and Dexter falls into that conversation accordingly. Many viewers agree that the show took a narrative dip in its later seasons, but an A+ ending could possibly have secured the killer Showtime show a much higher placing in the TV pantheon. (How would opinions about Lost differ with a new ending?)
Unfortunately, the creative team balked at wrapping things up with full closure, and instead took some oddball leaps to keep Dexter Morgan around for another potential round of episodes down the road. Though it's perhaps because of those sour feelings that fans would likely embrace Dexter's return with the most open of arms and kill rooms.
It wasn't all that long ago when Michael C. Hall was dropping some light implications that he might be ready to get back into the killer-of-killers mode for more Dexter. At the very least, he didn't say it was an impossibility, so assuming creator James Manos Jr. or some other talented scribe can come up with the perfect narrative arc to bring Dexter out of the woods-work, we could very well witness the next chapter of the Morgan family story.
They'd better hurry, though, since Michael C. Hall might not be so interested in sticking around in dark and deadly dramas for the long haul. His latest TV role is for IFC's hilariously spot-on parody Documentary Now!, in which he plays a talented bowler for the spoof of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. Hall, who recently starred in Game Night and the bizarro one-night-only stage play Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, talked with Uproxx about embracing his comedy skills.
I mean, yeah, I think I gravitate toward opportunities to do things that maybe are more comic or even silly over the past couple of years. And I enjoy it. I never really had any kind of grand plan in terms of the kind of material that I would or wouldn’t do… at the end of the two TV shows where I managed to be somewhat surrounded in one way or another by dead bodies. So, doing things that are more comic is definitely appealing, and I really enjoy it. I really have such respect for people who make that stuff.
Even his 2018 Netflix kidnapping caper Safe, while dealing with all kinds of serious issues and themes, had a darkly comedic streak running throughout. (And not just for Michael C. Hall's snazzy British accent.) At least no one went berserk over how that show ended.
While Dexter's series capper may never get its day in the sun, Six Feet Under's final episode strangely got a loving homage from The Simpsons in 2018, 13 years after the finale first aired. But note that while he may or may not be cool with heading back to Dexter in the future, Michael C Hall is pretty positive he wouldn't want to return to the role of Six Feet Under's David Fisher.
Would you guys want to see more Dexter from Michael C. Hall? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out the actor's episode of Documentary Now!, which already aired on IFC this week but can still be watched on the channel's website.
