The only show that really needs a prequel is getting one

Pa Chris Snellgrove
| Published 4 days ago

If Dexter: Original Sin was announced, the fans collectively groaned. Because the original Dexter the show ended with an embarrassingly awful episode, and prequels to popular IPs played out for a long time. However, as a main character plotting his next murder, I spent some time pondering the possibilities of a series centered around the first year of Dexter Morgan’s transformation into Miami’s most eccentric serial killer. And I came to a conclusion as shocking as Rita’s sudden death in season 4: because of her complicated knowledge and unanswered questions, Dexter might be the only TV show that needs a prequel.

A prequel to the Dexter story

What is it Dexter prequel about, right? Dexter: Original Sin is set in the 90s and focuses on how our protagonist (Patrick Gibson) becomes a serial killer with a strict moral code imposed by his father (Christian Slater). Michael K. Hall will return to provide the narrative as a grown-up Dexter, and it’s almost impossible to avoid comparisons of this show to NCIS: Originswhich is also set in the 90s, features a variety of actors playing familiar characters, and features the voice of Mark Harmon as an adult Agent Gibbs.

This comparison is a great starting point to discuss why Dexter it’s the only show that really needs a prequel. A significant problem c NCIS: Origins is that while it splits its time between the weekly procedurals and Gibbs’ character development, it doesn’t really offer the audience anything new. Every week in the original, we get new badass characters who do the same things as their more charismatic counterparts NCISand much of the aforementioned characterization is simply a dramatic retelling of events that fans have already heard about.

The reason we need a Dexter prequel

Why then, I think Dexter need a prequel more than NCIS or any other show? For one thing, there’s a lot more to the main character’s crazy story that we could use more detail on. Like, Dexter’s cop father discovers his son has an unbridled murderous streak and uses him as a weapon against the bad guys. We only know the general outline of how it works, but it would be very rewarding to watch this father (played by comeback icon Christian Slater, no less) devise a crazy solution to an unimaginable problem.

As a huge fan of the original Dexter (minus that god-awful ending), I’m also hoping that the prequel goes into more detail about how our beloved blood spatter analysis effectively infiltrates the police and hides its murderous activities from people whose entire job is to expose such killers, like him It’s part of the quirky charm of the original show, but the idea of ​​a prolific serial killer hiding among the cops is insanely unrealistic. Potentially it is Dexter the prequel can help illustrate how our boy got it done, even as it chronicles his relationships with fan-favorite supporting characters like Batista and Masuka.

Learn to be a better killer

Finally, a Dexter a prequel could help outline all of the young assassin’s early mistakes that make him better disguised in the future. For example, his romantic involvement with Rita in the original show was partly driven by his desire to blend in and not appear to be what he really is: a brooding, lonely, white male, aka the profile of too many real serial killers. For long-time fans, it might be interesting to see our hero’s early struggles to become the confident killer of the original TV show.

Television is full of sequels, but even some of the best are technically unnecessary: Better call Saulfor example, is the gold standard, but it’s basically a deep dive into the minor key All are difficult a character, not a show that helps us better understand the original series. Likewise, fantasy fare like House of the Dragon or Rings of power offers some fun knowledge, but none of it seems necessary to watch, respectively, for better understanding Game of Thrones Lord of the Rings shows or movies.

Dexter is officially the only series that needs a prequel to help us flesh out its main character and fully understand the previous series. And we can all see how well it works when Dexter: Original Sin premieres on Friday the 13th on Paramount+. With showrunner Clyde Phillips (who handled the first four seasons of the original Dexter), this prequel series should be anything but boring.