Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of Dexter: Original Sin.
At the time, there was no question about Dexter's fate. As his long-lost son drove off, Dexter bled out in the snow and said, "Let me die so my son can live." But in the opening moments of the prequel, viewers see Dexter getting discovered in the woods and driven to the hospital where doctors save his life. The show then jumps back to the past as Dexter's entire life, beginning literally from his birth, flashes in front of his eyes.
Showrunner Clyde Phillips -- who also ran the first four seasons of the original series as well as New Blood -- reveals, however, that Dexter originally did die at the end of New Blood and was brought back to life due to the success of the sequel's finale.
Phillips tells Entertainment Weekly that he "didn't know" that he would go on to revive Dexter, both as a character and a franchise, after New Blood. "He dies in the end," he explains. "I wrote the finale -- he died at the end of that show. And then it was the most watched episode in the history of Showtime."
Phillips says that Showtime "immediately" greenlit another sequel series, and he got to work on developing the story right away. But then Yellowstone had a surprising impact on the future -- or, more accurately, the past -- of the Dexter franchise.
"We wrote all 10 episodes of the sequel, and then Chris McCarthy from MTV Entertainment and Paramount came on board and said, 'I'm not in the sequel business, I'm in the prequel business,'" Phillips says. "Because he had done Yellowstone [prequels] 1883 and 1923. So Chris said, 'Can you come up with a prequel in two weeks?'"
Phillips went back to the drawing board and ultimately came up with the story for Dexter: Original Sin, which follows a young Dexter Morgan (now played by Patrick Gibson) as he first learns his father Harry's (now played by Christian Slater) code for only killing other killers while beginning his career at Miami Metro Homicide as a forensics intern. The prequel was then made on an accelerated timeline, as Phillips reveals they only just finished filming two weeks ago: "I'm still editing, actually."
While Hall was previously announced to be the narrator for the prequel as Dexter's inner thoughts, it was a surprise twist to see him onscreen at the beginning of the premiere. Phillips reveals that will be the only time Hall is seen in this series before he goes on to film present day-set sequel series Dexter: Resurrection. "They're starting to call it the Dexter-verse," Phillips says. "I've heard that a couple of times, which I'm fine with."
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Even though adult Dexter won't be in any more scenes, the showrunner promises that longtime Dexter fans will have plenty to love in the prequel. "If people like Easter eggs, this show is an Easter egg hunt," Phillips says. "It's so much fun. We'll finish a script and somebody will be reading it and say, 'What if we just put this little piece of information in there, and the fans will go nuts?' And we do it."
Dexter: Original Sin releases new episodes on Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime, which then air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.