Dexter: New Blood star Michael C. Hall is not ruling any dark twists out for his character or his family. The revival took a shocking twist in this week’s episode, and Hall told fans that it might go even further before this limited series is over. Fair warning: there are spoilers for Dexter Season 9, Episode 4 ahead.
The latest episode of Dexter: New Blood shows Dexter Morgan returning to his roots as a crime scene investigator, discerning the truth from the pattern of blood splatter. This tells him that his son, Harrison Morgan (Jack Alcott) instigated an attack on his friend Ethan (Christian Dell’Edera), which ultimately left Ethan dead. The reluctant serial killer is even left wondering if Harrison has a “dark passenger” of his own, and if he is capable of coaching his son through that relationship.
“I think that possibility is a part of the fun and the richness of that relationship,” Hall said after the episode aired in an interview with TV Line. “There are opposing things that are happening simultaneously for Dexter when it comes to Harrison and the dark passenger. On one hand, it’s Dexter’s deepest fear that his son has the dark passenger, and on the other hand it’s his deepest wish, which makes parenting tricky.”
Fans are already speculating that the series will reveal Harrison’s homicidal urges, and that Dexter will assume the role that his adopted dad Harry (James Remar) once played for him – teaching Harrison “the code” a serial killer should follow. However, Dexter himself has managed to suppress his murderous nature for a decade now and is still trying to keep it at bay. Exposure to a loose cannon like Harrison might push him over the edge.
“Dexter’s been living this abstinent, monastic, lonely life by choice, and suddenly here’s his son, who’s a young man filled with anger and issues of abandonment and pain, but yet, somehow is able to socialize,” noted showrunner Clyde Phillips in the same interview. “There’s a phenomenon called inherited trauma, and Dexter has it. He wonders if Harrison has it, too, or if he was too young to remember. And we’ll learn the truth of what that is. Obviously, it’s the more entertaining truth. If Harrison had nothing and no memory, then we have no story.”
For now, both Dexter and Harrison have no choice but to stick to the narrative that Harrison prevented Ethan from carrying out a grisly school shooting, but with just six episodes left in the revival, things will likely progress quickly. Dexter: New Blood airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime. It is also streaming on the Showtime app.