The Dexter: Resurrection season premiere kicks off a bloody good time as Dark Passengers awaken and unleash the fury, new characters emerge, and Dexter evolves.
Showrunner: Clyde Phillips
Genre: Crime Drama, Mystery
Number of Season 1 episodes: 10
Season Premiere Release Date: July , 2025
Where to watch: Stream it on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
I don’t know about you, but the release of Dexter: Resurrection is the highlight of my summer, because I’m a nerd. As such, I’m proud to report that this highly anticipated sequel-to-the-sequel has been well worth the wait. In this season premiere recap and review, Dark Passengers awaken and unleash the fury, familiar faces return, new characters emerge, and Dexter (Michael C. Hall), in his rebirth, finds himself an evolved man.
The Dexter: Resurrection season premiere opens where the final events of Dexter: New Blood left off and Dexter: Original Sin began. Dexter is in the hospital in a coma, Harrison (Jack Alcott) is nowhere to be found, and Det. Angel Batista (David Zayas, of Dexter) emerges on scene to set his sore eyes on his long, lost, presumed-dead friend.
Episodes 1 and 2 quickly establish that more is at play here than we realize. Not only is Dexter having to come to terms with the effects his Dark Passenger has on those he loves, but Harrison is also grappling with the strength and determination of his Dark Passenger. It’s very much a like-father-like-son scenario that circles around from Harry (James Remar) and Dexter in the original series to Dexter and Harrison now.
Moreover, we aren’t just in the continuation of a story. Dexter: Resurrection drops us smack dab in the middle of a bloody good time as it gradually constructs a cinematic universe like Marvel and DC, only here, the universe includes serial killers, not superheroes.
Dexter and his Dark Passenger return
Dexter’s near-death experience not only woke him up but also cleared his senses. As Dexter: Resurrection kicks off, he ruminates over everything that happened with Harrison and where he might be, Dexter realizes it’s on him to make things right.
Most of his time is spent wrapped up in memories and talking to ghosts. Harry is there as his conscience, to keep Dexter on track. Additionally, Sgt. Doakes (Erik King) and Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), from the original series, turn up, and it is indeed a pleasure to see them again. Arthur Mitchell, a.k.a. The Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), also reappears, testing Dexter’s control while taunting his Dark Passenger.
They’re all there to set the standards for Dexter, to help him navigate his moments of confusion, and to make sure he stays on track and fulfills his purpose. Right now, that purpose is Harrison.
Harrison’s Dark Passenger emerges
Harrison is busy squatting at the fancy New York City hotel where he works and, for the most part, he seems to enjoy his life. He stays busy holding doors, running errands, escorting people to their rooms, and doing whatever else a guest might need. When he spots a female patron in a dangerous situation with a male guest named Ryan (Bryan Lillis, of Crossroads), he can’t help but insert himself.
He realizes she has been roofied and will be assaulted the second he leaves, so his Dark Passenger emerges. Luckily, he prevents any assault, but he lays quite the beatdown on Ryan and unleashes the fury as he bashes his face in with a toilet tank cover.
He doesn’t have the finesse his father exudes during a kill, but he’s just starting out. We shouldn’t expect a refined process just yet. Harrison is fueled by emotion, which prevents him from thinking as clearly as he should be during this situation. Still, he manages to remember what Dexter taught him about cleaning up a scene and dismembering a dead body. The Dexter: Resurrection season premiere holds a major moment for Harrison, who assumes–i.e., hopes–he did everything right. However, when body parts appear at the local dump and police are called in to investigate, they’re led right to the crime scene.
While Harrison doesn’t know it yet, it’s a good thing his father is there in the shadows, looking out for him, making sure to clean up any trace evidence he may have missed.
New characters emerge
Episode 2 of Dexter: Resurrection wastes no time in letting us know there are new characters at play. In fact, there’s an active serial killer on the loose, and he’s smart. He targets Rideshare-type drivers and attacks them from the backseat as they drive. Knowing most cars are equipped with cameras, the killer uses advanced technology to obscure his face.
Dexter learns of the threat when he befriends his driver, Blessing Kamara (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, of Farewell Amor), whose friend was almost a victim of this serial killer. Dexter is intrigued with learning more about this guy, so when Blessing invites him to dinner to meet his friend who interacted with this killer, he happily accepts.
We think he’ll be intrigued at the idea of taking out another serial killer but instead, he’s bothered. While the fact that this killer saws off drivers’ heads should be enough to make Dexter want to go after him, what fuels him is what this guy calls himself: The Dark Passenger.
“He stole my name!” Dexter yells at Harry. New York City might be huge, but there’s only room for one Dark Passenger, and he is Dexter Morgan. He is also resurrected. After dubbing him The Imposter, Dexter gets to work on discovering his identity and preparing to take him down.
Episode 2 of Dexter: Resurrection also introduces us to Charley (Uma Thurman, of Pulp Fiction). The only thing we know about her is that she works for someone very powerful, and she’s a badass. When we finally see her, she’s ending the life of a serial killer with a bat full of nails because he not only broke her boss’s rules, but he also didn’t follow them after the fact.
Dexter experiences self-evolution
Obsessed with and hellbent on stopping The Imposter, a.k.a. The (Fake) Dark Passenger, Dexter finally has his opportunity, but it doesn’t go as planned.
When The Imposter walks up to a waiting car, Dexter stops him. As he walks away, Dexter pursues him to the subway but has the breath knocked out of him when someone chest-bumps him right where he was shot. Harry uses the opportunity to point out the importance of what has just happened: self-evolution.
The Imposter was going to kill that driver, and Dexter stepped in to save him—something he would have never done in the past. For the first time in his vigilante career, he put everything at risk to save someone rather than kill them.
“Since when do you care about other people?” Harry asks.
“Since now,” Dexter responds.
This one moment in Dexter: Resurrection marks the evolution in his taming of/control over his Dark Passenger. Will this affect how he operates in the future and if so, how?
Dexter: Resurrection season premiere review
What a bloody good time Dexter: Resurrection is thus far! I certainly didn’t expect to see a fresh kill right out of the gate, nor did I expect it to be at Harrison’s behest. Moreover, the introduction of not just one new serial killer but multiple new serial killers is exciting, and the season premiere tells us that this new installment will, if anything, unleash the fury.
Dexter: Resurrection episode 1 establishes that Harrison, indeed, has a Dark Passenger, and it shows us that the passenger is a shadow of his father’s, not a mirror image. Mark my words: That will come into play and be important for us to remember as the season unfolds.
Let’s talk about Angel Batista for a second. While he hopes his friend isn’t the notorious Bay Harbor Butcher, deep down, he knows the truth. Still, he lays a trap in hopes he won’t have to arrest his friend by telling Dexter he’s been declared officially alive to see what he’ll do. Will he flush out the killer or will he get his friend back?
While Dexter’s search for Harrison is the impetus for this story, that’s not what the season is about. That would be way too simple, and as we all know, nothing in the Dexter-verse is simple. It’s foundational, yes, but we’ll be focusing more on how this father-and-son duo navigate the world they eventually find themselves in, with their Passengers very much awake and manning the wheel.
Also, mad, mad, MAD props to the visual effects department. The blood and gore are superb, and these creative editing techniques of intertwining memories with reality is super effective in driving the action on screen.
Engaging with this season premiere is like reuniting with a long, lost love after way too many years apart. Stay tuned … the game is just getting started.
The Season Premiere of Dexter: Resurrection is currently streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. New episodes will be released weekly every Friday through September 12, 2025.
