If you told me two years ago that Dexter would claw its way back from the grave again and somehow stick the landing this time, I would have laughed, pointed at New Blood, and asked if you were feeling okay. And yet here we are: Dexter: Resurrection has delivered a full first season that feels less like a revival and more like an apology letter written in blood and taped lovingly to our fridge.
And it’s good.
The biggest triumph of Resurrection is that it remembers what made Dexter great in the first place: tight plotting, morally questionable decisions, and the persistent fear that everyone’s about three seconds from dying or discovering something they really shouldn’t while keeping Dexter likable.
I must admit, I was skeptical of the possibility of another Dexter series after New Blood. Sure, NB was well-acted, well-directed, and a solid story. But I had a hard time rooting for Dexter. The tone was way off and it did not feel like it belonged connected to the previous eight seasons of the original show. Resurrection fixed that.
Is the story perfect? No. A couple threads dangle here, some absurd plot points over there, and some are just ignored or brushed aside to avoid getting in the way of the many other machinations that exist to move the larger story beats along, occasionally winking like they’re waiting for Season 2 before they are explored fully. But what’s here is genuinely gripping: a focused narrative, a smart escalation of danger, and enough twists to make your spinal cord feel like a corkscrew. It’s tense, snappy, and confident—something Dexter hasn’t felt like since Arthur Mitchell was still breathing.
Let’s be honest: Dexter Morgan was always at his best when surrounded by people who made his double life feel like trying to juggle chainsaws in a daycare. Resurrection picks up that energy (albeit in a different way) and handles it in such a better way than the last venture in New Blood.
- Dexter feels both familiar and sharpened—still a predator, still painfully awkward in social settings, still making life choices that no amount of therapy on Earth could fix.
- James Remar is back as Harry Morgan and as always, is the light inside of Dexter’s darkness. His performance is a delight and his presence has been missed. So glad to have him back.
- Detective Claudette Wallace is a breakout star: a woman who radiates “one coffee away from solving everything” and “one bad day away from a meltdown” in perfect harmony.
- Leon Prater is a superb villain, the kind of bad guy who makes you want to keep him alive because he is so entertaining but knowing he has to go for all the horrible things he has done and continues to do.
- And the side cast? Not a dud in the bunch. Which is saying a lot considering the chemistry required for the likes of Uma Thurman, Eric Stonestreet, Krysten Ritter, Neil Patrick Harris, and Peter Dinklage all sharing the screen together.
- Michael C. Hall’s return to form is a revelation. He is at his best, opposite of some very large names in Hollywood that can’t hold a torch to his performance as Dexter Morgan.
Truth be told, we had lost hope with New Blood‘s direction and while Original Sin did have its moments, it did not quite scratch the itch we were hoping for. And honestly, we thought that would have killed the franchise’s momentum, tanking the possibility for anything redeeming with Hall in the lead again. But all the right pieces are here in Resurrection– the writing, the acting, the killing, all of it.
Somehow, Resurrection manages to be both relentlessly stressful and ridiculously entertaining (despite being filled with absurd impossibilities that make up the insane plot)—like watching someone disarm a bomb while narrating the steps in a cooking show voice. The pacing is still tight, though, the atmosphere thick, and every episode ends with you checking your pulse and wondering if this counts as cardio.
And the fun? It’s back. The dark humor. The internal monologues. The “oh god, Dexter, NO” moments. The feeling that the writers remembered this show is supposed to be thrilling and a tiny bit unhinged but also sprinkled with the right amount of fun and silliness. To put it bluntly, it felt great rooting for Dexter again.
While I write this, I am being intentionally vague. There are far too many interesting story tidbits that I want to avoid spoiling. To put it as bluntly as I can, Dexter is back and Hall is at the top of his game. This feels like the Dexter Morgan we know and love. And once again, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for the character.
