Why Michael C. Hall came back to 'Dexter' after controversial finale: It's 'unfinished business'

Did the widely derided series finale of Showtime's serial-killer drama "Dexter" influence the decision to bring the series back for a new event series? 

It certainly motivated star Michael C. Hall to try to find a more satisfying ending for the fans who watched the show during its original 2006-2013 run.

"The way the series proper ended has a great deal to do with why we’re revisiting the show and the character," Hall told reporters at a Television Critics Association panel for the 10-episode sequel, "Dexter: New Blood" (due Nov. 7, 9 EDT/PDT). 

"A lot of what was mystifying or dissatisfying to people is what creates the appetite" for the new season, he says. "The show did not end in a way that was definitive for people or gave anybody a sense of closure. We didn’t hear from Dexter ... and I think it left the audience with a sense of suspended animation" about "what happened with this guy."

The new series, set about a decade after the events of the 2013 series finale, is less an attempt to undo the mistakes of the finale and more to move on to a new story, the cast and creators said. In the new season,  Dexter is living a semi-normal life in a snowy small town in upstate New York. It's a far cry from the sun-drenched, glamorous Miami setting of the original eight-season series. 

"He’s not in the same place he was when we left him," Hall said. He’s actually cobbling together a normal life and trying to live one."

And while the new setting introduces many new characters, some favorites return, including Dexter's son Harrison (Jack Alcott), now grown and looking for answers from his father. 

"The theme of the season quickly became fathers and sons," said executive producer Clyde Phillips. "Dexter has a lot of work to do to win his son back and prove that he’s a good father, and I think we get there."

But while there are many callbacks to the original series, Phillips was quick to point out that this isn't "the ninth season of 'Dexter.'" 

"This is a whole new embodiment of the show, a whole new imagining of the show," he said of what Showtime is calling a special-event series. "He has no connection to his previous life other than he is who he is. The moment the first frame comes up, you can see we’re in a whole new world." 

Hall also added that he wanted to come back to "Dexter" because now was the right time to revisit the character. 

"There were many moving parts, all of which came together," he said. "But I think a big part of it was that enough time had passed for Harrison to be of a certain age to be plausibly someone who has the wherewithal to track down his father."

Showtime's entertainment president Gary Levine said he was always troubled by the lack of closure when "Dexter" ended, something Hall hoped the new series could fix for fans.

"I certainly do hope that watching the show is a satisfying experience for people who watched it originally and are curious about what happened to him. I certainly hope it does provide some definitive answers." 

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