Dexter Fans Brace for Another Botched Finale: Can Resurrection Escape the Curse?
As one fan summed up the mood: "Surely you can't mess up the ending again for the 3rd time?"
Paramount+ with Showtime rolled out Dexter: Resurrection on July 11, 2025, with Michael C. Hall back as everyone's favorite blood-spatter expert turned serial killer. The sequel to New Blood has delivered critical buzz, a loaded cast list (Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, David Zayas, Jack Alcott, James Remar), and plenty of fan chatter. But the elephant in the room is whether this latest revival can avoid what's doomed Dexter twice before: a finale that sends the audience into open revolt.
Fans split between praise and dread
On Reddit, some are already calling it the franchise's best work since the early Showtime years.
"The best Dexter since the first few seasons of the original. Possibly better," wrote one viewer.
Another added, "The 4th episode has some of the best writing of this year."
But the optimism is mixed with fatalism. "I expect the next 2 episodes to be a 9.5 or higher than the final to be a 5.0," admitted one nervous fan. Another put it even more bluntly: "They still have time to mess it up."
The paranoia is rooted in history. Showtime first enraged viewers in 2013 by sending Dexter Morgan off to become a lumberjack in Oregon, and then repeated the mistake with 2021's New Blood.
Theories, speculation, and gallows humor
Fan theories are rampant about how this season might close out. Some suspect Uma Thurman's character is the mysterious New York Ripper. Others think the Ripper storyline is being stretched into a second season. And some joke about the show pulling a Sopranos-style fade-out. "Did my stream cut off, why did the screen just go dark?" one commenter quipped. Another simply posted: "Don't stop, believing."
Meanwhile, the Batista subplot is dividing viewers.
"It can only end one of two ways: Dexter kills Angel or Dexter gets taken down by Angel," one fan argued, while another hoped to see Harrison given a normal life instead.
The idea that the show could drag out Dexter's cat-and-mouse with his old colleague has some fans excited, others dreading déjà vu.
Enjoyment with caveats
Plenty of fans agree Resurrection is compulsively watchable. "Every episode has been more exciting than the last," wrote one. "I'd say this is the best season since Season 4," another admitted, while immediately pointing out the usual Dexter contrivances: missing CCTV cameras, clunky plot stitching, and a stranger instantly welcomed into a family's home.
As that commenter put it, "It's very entertaining for sure even if it isn't what I'd consider to be incredible."
Others are already hedging against disappointment. "At this point they only have to not have any ending of sorts. Everyone's happy with it and wants more," one fan joked. Another said they're bracing for another letdown: "The truth is we will be disappointed by Dexter again, like always."
Resurrection has undeniably reignited interest in the character. Newcomers are asking if they need to bother with New Blood or the prequel Original Sin, while veterans compare weekly hype to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. But looming over all of it is the same anxiety that's haunted the show for over a decade: will Dexter finally get an ending that sticks?