Dexter: Resurrection Misses Debra Morgan

The marketing leading up to the airing of Dexter: Resurrection inundated fans with reminders of their favorite actors and characters returning to the franchise after all these years. The spinoff’s ability to retain Michael C. Hall as Dexter, David Zayas as Angel Batista, and James Remar as Harry Morgan allows the continuity to flourish and the longtime viewers of this series to feel like there is still a dedication from the writers and actors to deliver a strong (if still repetitive) product. 

There’s still one key absence that will become apparent after watching the first couple of episodes of Dexter: Resurrection, although it wasn’t a surprise given that no publicity photos or news posts in the months leading up to the show’s premiere said anything about her return. Jennifer Carpenter was indispensable as Dexter’s sister, Debra Morgan, throughout the original series and even as Dexter’s internal monologue partner in Dexter: New Blood. Deciding that she didn’t want to come back for a third time, Carpenter’s character is only mentioned in passing by other characters. 

Debra died at the end of the first show’s series finale, and this was before the writers knew that Dexter would become as ironically unkillable as any vehicle in the TV industry. If given a second chance to rewrite that flop of an episode, surely Debra would have been given a different fate to leave her story open for a return. Her arc was just as interesting as Dexter’s and often was used as a mirror for her brother’s journey. Debra’s absence from the proceedings in Dexter: Resurrection makes the newest addition to the story feel somewhat incomplete. It would be like bringing back Breaking Bad without Jesse Pinkman or Full House with Michelle Tanner (oh wait…)

Debra started her story in Dexter as her brother’s doting sidekick. She believed in his morality and ignored the signs of his morbid behavior as well as anyone in his life. As more layers of Dexter were peeled away, Debra’s original judgments of her adopted sibling didn’t seem so misguided. Sure, Dexter is certainly a criminal who deserves to be caught, but Debra believed in his strengths as a family man, a father, and a provider. Her biases led to her shrugging off his unusual and erratic personality quirks, and many of us at home thought she should have been able to decipher his double life before the season 6 finale.

This was kind of the beginning of the end of their relationship as we knew it. Debra’s affection for her brother often bordered on incestuous, but most didn’t think the story would bring this to fruition. The romantic experiment was one of the unfortunate subplots that was explored at the end of Dexter’s sixth season and the beginning of the seventh, and symbolized one of the series’ “jump the shark” moments. 

Debra’s death felt like a cop out of sorts after the intimacy plot ended, and it’s having an effect on Dexter’s character in perpetuity. We already see the way that Dexter’s motivations are changing after so many years in the criminal game. He has altered his father’s code to fit his newfound desire to save people, and nobody would be more proud of him for this than Debra. If Carpenter had been brought back for this series, it could have allowed the writers to capitalize even more on Dexter’s growth. 

Thankfully, the addition and retention of Harrison (Jack Alcott) gives Dexter: Resurrection that familial storytelling that is so key to the grounded human aspect of Dexter’s journey. Harry’s voice inside Dexter’s head is also pivotal to this. But Debra looking out for Dexter and keeping his best interests in mind is something that would have elevated this newest series into something that thoroughly captured the franchise’s essence. 

Dexter’s maturation as a father, a friend, and an overall person is a reflection of the qualities Debra always encouraged her brother to show more often. She was also the only character in the series who could be defined as a round character outside of Dexter. Debra added depth to the franchise, and her story got the short end of the stick in the end. Dexter: Resurrection should have been the encore Debra deserved. Dexter will just have to carry on his sister’s encouragement and love in his psyche. Whatever happens to him this season should serve to keep his sister’s memory alive. Fingers still crossed for a cameo from Carpenter, though, even if it’s only for a single scene. 

The first three episodes of Dexter: Resurrection are available to stream on Paramount+ now. New episodes premiere Fridays on Paramount+ and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime.