Dexter Completely Erased New Blood's Most Tragic Twist That Was Created 15 Years Ago

NOTICE! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 1!The debut of Dexter: Original Sin revealed that Dexter actually survived New bloodis endingwhich reverses the Morgan family's most tragic twist in its ending. Arriving approximately eight years after the original Dexter Showtime's divisive finale, Showtime revival limited series 202 Dexter: New Blood brought back the titular serial killer after he abandoned his son, faked his death, and vowed to stop killing. Of course, New blood saw Dexter return to serial murder under a new alias, which became even more complicated when his estranged son Harrison, who also has a Dark Passenger, tracked him down.

In Dexter: New BloodIn Harrison's ending, Harrison discovers that Dexter killed an innocent man outside of the Code, making him exactly like all the “monsters” he kills. Harrison then points a gun at Dexter and, with his father's permission, pulls the trigger.. Dexter is seen dying in the snow as Harrison escapes, with the showrunner even confirming that Dexter had died. However, the opening scene of Dexter: Original Sin confirms that he miraculously survived his gunshot wound after being rushed to the hospital, which has important implications for the meaning and impact of the New bloodIt's a shocking ending.

Dexter's survival means Harrison never became a killer at the end of New Blood

Harrison never really became like his father at the end of New Blood

Now that Dexter has survived New bloodIn the end, the franchise took the greatest tragedy for the Morgan family, namely that Harrison became a murderer, just like his father. Not only that, but the only time Harrison became a Dexter-style killer, he was killing his own father. This emotional resolution created a tragic underpinning for Dexter's life, with his Dark Passenger being born while he sat in his mother's blood and his life coming to an end after passing on that same tragic desire to his son.

Dexter paid the ultimate price for his sins: he not only died, but he turned his son into a murderer. However, this impact is undermined by Dexter's survival. It may have been a divisive way to conclude the series, but Harrison becoming a serial killer with a Dark Passenger has been planned ever since. DexterAt the end of season 4, when Dexter found baby Harrison sitting in a pool of his mother's blood when she was murdered by the Trinity Killer. Dexter always feared that Harrison would become like him after Rita's death, and he wasn't entirely wrong.

Dexter: Original Sin Better highlights Dexter and Harrison's differences with their dark passengers

Harrison's desire to kill wasn't as strong as Dexter's

Like this New blood did by revealing that Harrison could suppress his Dark Passenger better and didn't really want to become like Dexter, Original sinThe portrayal of young Dexter emphasizes how different the son and father really are from each other. Dexter has always been a strange kid with a disconcerting fixation on blood, gore, and death, even as he grew up in a loving home with Harry, Doris, and Deb. Although he had a Dark Passenger linked to Rita's tragic death, Harrison's furious desire for violence wasn't the same as his uncontrollable desire – it was more rooted in being abandoned by Dexter..

The first episode of Dexter: Original Sin explains that there was no other option for Dexter – he knew the Code and wouldn't be satisfied unless he could use it. About that, New blood highlighted that Harrison could have lived without needing death and blood if it weren't for Dexter abandoning him and teaching him the Code. Ultimately, Dexter would likely have been Harrison's first and only death after New blood. Therefore, survive in Dexter: Original Sin and stopping Harrison from being a murderer is arguably the greatest act Dexter has ever done as a father.

New episodes of Dexter: Original Sin the first season will be released on Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime.