Dexter Morgan got a return and conclusion in the recent Dexter: New Blood but before this miniseries came to be, we almost got a wildly different take.
In an interview today for Bloody Disgusting’s “Phantom Limbs” article series which looks at projects in the horror space which never came to be, Scott Buck (the man who oversaw Morgan’s sixth, seventh and eighth seasons) almost made him a doctor.
Yes, Dr. Dexter. Really.
“We ended the show specifically in a way that it could come back,” Buck told the site. “That had always been the intention. The one thing I was told I could not do is kill Dexter, because [Showtime] wanted to bring him back. It was actually the network who pitched to me that Dexter be a doctor. I was intrigued, but it seemed a little far-fetched.”
Far-fetched indeed. It usually takes over a decade to become a physician in the US and so Buck pitched him becoming a paramedic instead because it would allow him to hold lives in the balance. Buck noted it did not go forward mainly due to star Michael C. Hall being absolutely done with the show when it finished in 2013. Had he been interested, the re-imagining would have taken place in Oregon before picking up the character every few years for a handful of episodes like Idris Elba’s police drama Luther, but this was not to be and Buck is happy with what is now.
“I’m sure everyone’s happy with Dexter: New Blood,” he said. “I’m glad that it came out, because it had been very long in the works that Dexter needed to be finished in some way.”
Dexter: New Blood is now available to stream on the Showtime app.