Resurrection’ Writers Reveal How Michael C. Hall Brought His Infamous Character Back From the Dead

The unexpected finale of Dexter: New Blood may have been a divisive one, but writers Clyde Phillips and Scott Reynolds know the full story. “The critics loved it, the internet people hated it,” Phillips tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub, as they settle in to discuss Season 1 of Paramount+’s latest addition to the franchise, Dexter: Resurrection, in which the creators bring Michael C. Hall‘s infamous serial killer back from the dead.

After the events that transpired in New Blood, Dexter is back and on a mission to find his son (Jack Alcott) in New York City. While there, not only is he reunited with old faces, like Detective Angel Batista (David Zayas), but is introduced to a billionaire’s collection of killers, played by Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, Neil Patrick Harris, David Dastmalchian, Krysten Ritter, and Eric Stonestreet.

During their interview, Phillips and Reynolds demystify the seemingly impossible return of Dexter Morgan, discuss writing and adjusting characters as their ensemble cast joined the series, and how these new characters will influence our favorite serial killer-killing Dark Passenger. The duo also give exciting updates for the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) prequel series and their plans for Dexter: Original Sin now that it’s been picked up for Season 2.

The Trinity Killer Prequel Series Isn’t Off the Table Yet

“It’s a hell of a good story.”

COLLIDER: What’s the status of the untitled Trinity Killer prequel series?

CLYDE PHILLIPS: It’s completely written. John Lithgow has agreed to do the voice, to narrate it, but it is not picked up yet. We’re hoping that with the success of Resurrection, and Original Sin has just been picked up, that Chris McCarthy and the Paramount people will want to expand the Dexterverse. But it has not been picked up yet.

SCOTT REYNOLDS: It’s a hell of a good story, though.

PHILLIPS: It’s not been greenlit, but it’s beautifully written.

You already have the eight or 10 scripts done?

PHILLIPS: Yes. We have 10 scripts done.

REYNOLDS: Ten episodes ready to go.

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With Dexter: Original Sin, it’s been picked up for Season 2. Have you figured out, ultimately, how many seasons you’d like to do of it, or is it one of these things where you don’t really know, you’re just taking it season by season?

PHILLIPS: Well, you never really know. One of the things that we’re mindful of, and Scott is the keeper of the canon of the show, is that Harry, played by Christian Slater — who’s getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next week — dies in the original show. Original Sin takes place over the course of two weeks in story days, and we want to keep them like that. We want to keep them compressed. Therefore, we have to figure out how to tell a story that could be compressed so that Harry isn’t around long enough that he dies.

REYNOLDS: Yeah, because he dies before Dexter is 21, so we’re right in that pocket of time. But you can tell a lot of story. 24 did [one day each season].

PHILLIPS: Look at The Pitt. It did 15 episodes in one day.

Dexter Rises From ‘New Blood’

“Everybody loves Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, and they all keep coming back, so why not Dexter?”

Clyde, let’s start with the most important question now that we’re jumping into Resurrection. Do you regret saying Dexter had died in New Blood?

PHILLIPS: No, I do not. It was the truth at the time. I did a couple of interviews, and they said, “Ah, come on, he’s not really dead.” I said, “No, he’s dead. I wrote that episode,” which was the most-watched episode in the history of Showtime. The critics loved it, the internet people hated it. We would get, like, guns pointed at us and all this other stuff.

REYNOLDS: Online.

PHILLIPS: Online, yes. Then, Michael [C. Hall] came to me and said, “Clyde, you’ve got Dexter in your blood. I’ve got Dexter in my blood. I want to do more. Can you figure out how to unkill me?” So, I was on Martha’s Vineyard, and Scott was in LA, and I called him, and we just Zoomed for a week and came up with a pitch. We went to Michael first and ran it by him. He had a couple of notes, and we accommodated them. Then, we jumped right in and sold it to Chris McCarthy at Paramount+, and we were off and running. So, the short answer is: I do not regret it because it was the truth at the time, and I wanted to have a sign on my forehead that said “I only had Michael for one year.” Then we got him back.

REYNOLDS: And the truth is, everybody loves Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, and they all keep coming back, so why not Dexter? We’ve got plenty of story to tell.

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One of the things I think is the most shocking is that you guys started filming this in the beginning of January, and you’re going to be on the air in July. How the F were you doing this?

PHILLIPS: First of all, we have two directors, and sometimes we have both directors working the same day. It’s called tandem units. For instance, Monday, we’re gonna have a tandem unit going. We have an amazing crew. We prepped the hell out of it. We understand the show the way nobody else possibly could, and we’re going to finish shooting on June 17th. The tenth episode will be done shooting on June 17th with a huge finale. All the while, we’re always editing. Now, the way it works, you can edit electronically. I can edit from my apartment in Greenwich Village, Scott can edit from his house in Los Angeles, the editors are in New Jersey or St. Louis, or wherever they are, and we just set up sessions and work through them. Another thing is, we’ll be watching the show and a piece of voiceover will occur to me that might be funny or poignant.

REYNOLDS: We’re always pitching new things in the edit.

PHILLIPS: So then I’ll be recorded on my iPhone, send it to the assistant editor, she’ll cut it into the [show], and then send it to Michael. If he goes for it, he’ll record it, and it’s in the next day’s session. So, it’s always fluid and always moving forward. It’s a shit ton of work, but this is living the dream.

Completely.

Uma Thurman “Wants To Come Back Next Year”

Resurrection enlists the talent of an ensemble cast for Dexter’s new friends.

This season, you have Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, Neil Patrick Harris, and Krysten Ritter. You have this murderer’s row of talent coming in to work.

PHILLIPS: Eric Stonestreet.

Did any of them say, “I will do the show, but only if Dexter kills me?”

PHILLIPS: [Laughs] No, nobody said that. But Uma, when we first wrote that character, was a pretty straightforward role. Once we got Uma, Scott and I sat down and wrote several more scenes for her that were of substance, so she wasn’t just a bodyguard. We humanized her, and she was so grateful for it. She loved it. She called and said she wants to come back next year. We’d have to figure out how to do that, but the point is that she’s very happy with what we’ve been doing.

REYNOLDS: Every single one of these actors, in a lot of ways, when we came up with Mia, in my head, I was always thinking about Krysten Ritter and for the Gemini Killer, I was thinking about David Dastmalchian. Then, as we finished Al Jolly as “Rapunzel,” we were like, “Eric Stonestreet would be a great get, but would the guy from Modern Family want to become a serial killer?” It’s such a departure for him. But in every single spot, we got our first choice. It comes down to the fact that we had 10 episodes completely written, so they saw the whole story. We met with them and made little changes here and there, like with Peter Dinklage and Uma.

PHILLIPS: A quick aside: on the first year of Dexter, 20 years ago, Eric Stonestreet was a working day player and came in to audition to play one of the guys that Dexter’s brother was going to dismember.

REYNOLDS: Remember that security guard that had his hand and foot cut off?

PHILLIPS: He didn’t get the role, which meant on a day he would have been shooting, he was available to audition for Modern Family and got it. So, instead of making $1,100 for one day, he has made his life.

You mentioned you thought of this as a multi-season show. Assuming Michael wants to do it, do you envision this as a three-season show or a season show, or are you going to go season by season and see how it goes?

PHILLIPS: There are a couple of ways of answering that. Michael and I were doing an interview with Vanity Fair, and while we were doing that interview, my phone rang and I couldn’t answer it. It was Chris McCarthy and Gary Levine calling to tell me that Original Sin had been picked up. A similar question was asked, and Michael said, “This show is going to be on for years,” plural, with an S. So, we’re going to do this as long as Michael wants to. Then, when we know what the final year is, we’ll know how to resolve it.

REYNOLDS: But we pitched him three seasons that tell a great story that can continue on.

A New Temptation Lies Ahead in ‘Dexter: Resurrection’

“He does want to be a part of something.”

One of the things that I’m excited about is the fact that Dexter has always lived by this code, but in the trailer, you can see that he is going to be interacting with other serial killers who clearly don’t have a code and do their own thing. How will these serial killers that he possibly befriends impact Dexter’s psychology on how he acts?

REYNOLDS: That’s a good question. I’m going to challenge you on your thought that none of these serial killers have a code. You don’t know that. That could be very interesting. But the thrust of this season is that Dexter is resurrected, and he is thinking, “I’m going back to basics.” So now James Remar, Harry, is around him all the time, and he’s kind of like a friend rather than a scolding person. He’s committed, “I’m going to do the code. I’m gonna take care of my son.” Despite the fact that he tells himself he doesn’t need anyone, that unreliable narrator that goes on in Dexter’s head, and he says, “I don’t need friends. I don’t need any other life. This is all that I need,” when you meet a bunch of people who are like-minded individuals, it’s hard not to connect.

That’s why we love him, right? Despite the many things that he tells us, he doesn’t need this, and he’s a psychopath, and all that, we watch him and we go, “Yeah, he does want to belong. He does want to be a part of something, of a community, even.” So, that’s the temptation this season, because here are these like-minded individuals. There’s this very well-written moment where you get to see how he meets up with them. It is a temptation because they say the things that he thinks out loud, and he can be completely open and honest, mostly, with them, and that feels good. When you get to hang out with a bunch of friends and talk about The Shining, it’s the greatest thing in the world. That’s the temptation. It’s real fun.

Dexter: Resurrection Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2 premiere on Paramount+ and Showtime on July 11.