Is ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ slaying the critics?
Is ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ slaying the critics?
The new series fits into Paramount Global’s stated goal of building franchises around its most valuable properties.
It’s hard to keep a good serial killer down. That’s why Paramount is bringing back one of its most popular characters, as part of its strategy to develop more shows and movies from its most valuable properties. The drive to create big franchises out of successful IP can be fraught with perils, as Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and other studios have found the hard way.
The latest incarnation of the “Dexter” franchise is “Dexter: Resurrection,” which will stream on the Paramount+ Premium tier beginning on Friday, July 11. The show is a direct sequel to “Dexter: New Blood,” which seemed to depict the titular character’s death.
“Dexter: Resurrection” sees Michael C. Hall return to the role of Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who has turned his violent impulses toward the pursuit of other killers and violent criminals. After miraculously surviving a gunshot wound, Dexter chases his missing son, Harrison, to New York, despite pursuit from Captain Angel Batista.
Thus far, the critical response to “Dexter: Resurrection” is everything that Paramount could have hoped for. The show has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 64 score on Metacritic, which indicates “Generally Favorable” reviews. We’ve assembled a sampling of reviews for the show below, and you can see what critics are saying for yourself.
Watch a trailer for ‘Dexter: Resurrection’:
Tania Hussain | Collider
One of the biggest surprises in Resurrection is just how much tighter the writing feels this time around. Eight seasons and one revival later, one of the most noticeable changes is in its approach to these characters, especially Dexter. Under returning showrunner Clyde Phillips, the series balances macabre with emotional complexity more effectively than New Blood could. The slow burn of the first two episodes might test some viewers’ patience (even with some exciting plot points), but it pays off because this isn’t a story rushing to resurrect a franchise — it’s reconstructing it from the inside out.
Daniel Fienberg | The Hollywood Reporter
Through the four episodes sent to critics, all indications are that this is a lark of a season, like they’re playing with house money and not gambling on the tenuous dignity that they previously restored. Subtitle aside, Dexter: Resurrection feels like season 10 of Dexter (the prequel series might as well not exist), almost relentlessly obsessed with callbacks and Easter eggs and wholly stuck in the same rut of surging silliness that so frequently plagued the show after its consensus pinnacle in the John Lithgow-led fourth season. All of the grounding and clarity of purpose that carried Dexter: New Blood is gone, but if the version of Dexter that you enjoy was already borderline cartoonish — and the show is, and always has been, a dark comedy at heart — there’s entertainment to be found here.
Ben Travers | IndieWire
In addition to the silly fun offered by comical recurring characters, “Resurrection” also revives Dexter’s sense of humor. The dilemma about his son provides the bare minimum of drama to chew on, allowing Dexter’s focus to shift toward playful topics like his new cold-blooded buddies and the peculiar nature of his new playground, New York City. Dexter stares blankly at the parking signs telling him when he can and cannot leave his car unattended. He sneers at a little boy stealing all the pancakes from his hotel’s breakfast buffet. He’s proud of his first rating as a UrCar driver — “three out of five stars, not bad” — until a fellow chauffeur informs him a score that low could cost him his gig.
Bob Strauss | San Francisco Chronicle
As he has since the original “Dexter” series premiered in 2006, Hall combines subtle, quicksilver physical expressiveness with sardonic voiceover comments to build a full, convincing picture of this man’s split psyche. Parental considerations initiated last time out are foregrounded and more complex this time, as is an extra dimension of furtiveness.
Kristen Baldwin | Entertainment Weekly
Dexter has never been a particularly subtle show, of course, but there’s usually a level of self-awareness to its excess. Here, it feels like Phillips and his writers are just saving their efforts for episode 4, when the season gets going in earnest — courtesy of a gleefully macabre development in Dexter’s social life, and a delightful gaggle of guest stars…In the premiere, Dexter tries to explain to Batista why he faked his death and moved to upstate New York: “I needed a new start.” Well, third time’s the charm — and hopefully the last.
Amber Dowling | The Wrap
Unlike “New Blood,” in which Dexter tried to live down-low and away from murders and controversy, the character is ready to re-embrace his Dark Passenger in New York City. That means his father Harry (James Remar) is back as his ghostly guide. But remember, this is an older Dexter who is coming back from death. And so, he is no longer capable of the same physical feats he once was. The scripts embrace that change for humor and frustration, reminding us that no one is actually immortal here.
Brian Tallerico | AV Club
Paramount+ has asked that critics keep the specifics unspoiled, but some very familiar faces from the entire run of Dexter appear in visions to Dexter, basically bringing him back to life, and setting the stage for a season that’s filled with callbacks to the original, including several characters that fans presumed they’d never see again. While most are still under wraps, it’s already been revealed that David Zayas is returning to this universe as Angel Batista, who tracks Dexter to Iron Lake after getting a tip from the Police Chief and connecting the dots to La Guerta’s conviction that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher so many years ago. Before Angel can get a grip on Dexter, Morgan flees to New York, chasing Harrison to the city that never sleeps. A cop on his trail and James Remar returning as Harry to be Dex’s moral conscience? This is the Dexter we remember.
Greg MacArthur | Screen Rant
Resurrection proves there is much more to Dexter Morgan’s story than previously thought. Even if Dexter’s up to his old methods and tricks, it’s fascinating watching him do them again and again. Dexter fans could be in for something special if both Resurrection and Original Sin continue their multi-season runs for the foreseeable future. Hall’s magnetism as Dexter remains in the spotlight of both shows, even though he only appears as a voiceover narrator in the prequel series. Dexter: Resurrection places Hall back in the front and center of the Dexter franchise, right where he belongs.
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