Dexter: New Blood canceled at Showtime after season 1

Showtime has pulled the plug on Dexter: New Blood. The sequel spin-off of Dexter premiered on November 7, 2021, eight years after the parent show aired its contentious series finale, titled Remember the Monsters?, in 2013.

As far as the titular character Dexter Morgan is concerned, he wasn’t slated to return anyway because he was murdered by his son Harrison, played by Jack Alcott, in the New Blood season 1 finale.

But people were intrigued to find out how Harrison led his life after leaving the upstate New York town of Iron Lake and his dear father behind, which season 2 would have explored.

Apart from Alcott, Dexter: New Blood starred Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Julia Jones as Dexter’s love interest Police Chief Angela Bishop, and Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter’s sister, Debra Morgan, among others.

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Showtime yet to confirm Dexter: New Blood kill

Dexter: New Blood had a lot of expectations riding on its shoulders since its highly popular parent show had given an unsatisfactory ending to its fans. To recall, Dexter’s 56-minute-long season 8 finale received mixed and deeply polarized reviews upon its release.

However, when New Blood arrived, it successfully overturned the bad aftertaste of the disputable finale and gathered generally favorable reviews.

In fact, the 2021 show reportedly became the most-watched series in the history of Showtime, clocking an average of 8 million weekly viewers across all platforms. So, the cancelation does indeed come as a surprise.

While Showtime, which will soon be merging with Paramount+, hasn’t confirmed anything yet, New Blood’s showrunner and Showtime's entertainment chief have indicated long ago that it’s a dead end for the Dexter revival show.

While speaking to TVLine right after the season 1 finale last January, showrunner Clyde Phillips said:

“If they were to call me and say, ‘We want to do [a second season], we want you to figure it out,’ I’m pretty busy, but I would drop everything I’m doing and jump right into it. I would love to do it, but it’s really up to Showtime.”

Meanwhile, Gary Levine, Showtime’s entertainment chief, had said:

“Our deepest thanks to Michael [C. Hall], Clyde [and executive producers] Scott [Reynolds] and Marcos [Siega] for delivering a profoundly powerful conclusion to our beloved and extraordinary series.”

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The Showtime-Paramount+ merger did not end only one show

Dexter: New Blood isn’t the only casualty of the impending Showtime-Paramount+ merger, to be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime.

The premium cable service has removed many of its underperforming exclusive shows, including Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber, Jim Carrey's Kidding, and American Rust, from its database.

The network also plans to get rid of The End, Wakefield, American Gigolo, and Let the Right One In. Three Women, which remains unaired, has been canceled as well.