Is Lady Vengeance Really Dead in Dexter Resurrection? Why Fans Aren’t Convinced After Episode 6

Episode 6 of Dexter: Resurrection tried to sell us a shocking twist: Mia, aka Lady Vengeance (Krysten Ritter), is dead. Fans did not buy it. And now an interview with Ritter and Jamie Chung on the Dexter: Final Cut YouTube channel has thrown fresh fuel on the 'she might still be alive' fire.

Quick refresher: how Mia supposedly died

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) thought he might have found a real friend in Mia. Maybe more. She seemed like him: careful, principled, lethal. The press even painted her as a vigilante avenger hunting serial rapists and abusers. Then date night happened.

After a night out that ends at a wine bar, Dexter clocks the truth: the Lady Vengeance mythology is basically a narrative the media built for her. Mia actually picks victims randomly. The scary part? She just loves killing.

She invites Dexter to a 'threesome' — her word for a joint murder — and aims at an innocent UrCar driver. She thinks Dexter is Red, the Dark Passenger killer who decapitates from the back seat with a wire, so she expects him to be game. He shuts it down. She storms off, hilariously furious and, in her words, 'Murder Horny.'

Dexter considers putting her on his table, but decides a cleaner play makes more sense. He breaks into her place, stashes oxygenated bleach under the sink, and plants Ryan's (Bryan Lillis) watch inside her music box full of victim trophies. From a building across the street, he waits, watches her bring home a victim, and then calls the cops. Mia is arrested.

In jail, Charley (Uma Thurman) shows up pretending to be Mia's lawyer. Mia promises she will not talk, will not drag Leon (Peter Dinklage) into it, and will not angle for money.

'Our mutual friend appreciates that... and we will make sure your stay is as comfortable and short as possible.'

Later, Charley slides cash to a guy with an obvious gambling problem. Surprise: he is the prison guard who 'finds' Mia hanging in her cell a few days later. Officially, it is suicide. The reasonable read is that the guard staged a murder-for-hire to look like suicide on Charley's orders. But there is an equally juicy alternative: maybe he was paid to fake the whole thing.

The interview clue that blew this back open

In a 20-minute chat on the Dexter: Final Cut channel, Ritter tells Jamie Chung (who starred in Dexter: New Blood) she wants back in any way she can — and then points fans to a very specific frame: the files in Leon's private museum, the collection Dexter snoops through. The Lady Vengeance file is labeled 'Active.' Meanwhile, the Canton Clubber — the guy Charley kills in her first major scene — is labeled 'Inactive.' Translation: Leon keeps these files up to date.

Only Leon and Charley have access to that room. So why is Mia still 'Active' after her supposed death? Did someone forget to update the folder? Or is that label telling us exactly what we think it is?

Why the 'Mia lives' theory is not as wild as it sounds

• Ritter highlighted the 'Active' label herself, inviting fans to connect the dots.
• Leon collects killers, has a dark past, and, notably, has not killed himself. If he wants a prized asset — and his only female killer — alive, he can put the right people in place to make that happen, including whoever handled the body.
• Charley literally promises Mia a short and comfortable stay, then pays off the guard who discovers her. That guard also has a gambling problem. If anyone is bribable enough to fake a death, it is him.
• Creators know fans freeze-frame everything. Including that file shot could be a deliberate nudge while the show waits on a Season 2 renewal at Paramount+ with Showtime.

So... is she dead?

Maybe. It is absolutely possible the file just has not been flipped to 'Inactive' yet. But this is Dexter: Resurrection, a series that already pulled off the ultimate franchise retcon by bringing its protagonist back after a chest-shot death. On this show, faked prison suicides are not outside the lines.

Whether Mia turns up breathing or not, Dexter still has Leon's other 'active' monsters to deal with — and a growing list of people who want him gone. If we get a new season, expect that file cabinet to matter a lot.