WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Resurrection season 1, episode 3!While Dexter: Resurrection has brought back many of the most iconic trademarks from the original series, limited revival, and prequel, the new show doesn’t continue one of the franchise’s most iconic features. With Dexter: Resurrection picking up after Dexter Morgan miraculously survived New Blood’s ending, in which he was shot by his son Harrison, Showtime’s latest sequel sees Dexter “reborn,” warranting plenty of callbacks to his early serial killer days.
As such, there are numerous elements in Resurrection that recur throughout the franchise. Dexter’s love of food, voice-over narration, visions of dead loved ones, and long-absent returning original Dexter characters are found in Resurrection, feeling authentic to its predecessors. However, Dexter being reborn in Resurrection also comes with some changes to distinguish this new era, which includes dropping a major feature of previous Dexter TV shows.
Dexter: Resurrection’s Opening Title Sequence Abandons The Franchise’s Iconic Morning Routine Intro
Resurrection Repeats New Blood’s Opening Credits Sequence Style
After three episodes, it’s clear Dexter: Resurrection won’t have a new version of the franchise’s iconic morning routine intro. The original opening credits sequence became one of Dexter’s trademarks, depicting Michael C. Hall’s Dexter Morgan during his innocent morning routine, but the editing, direction, music, and blocking make the everyday tasks look far more sinister. Brushing teeth, cooking breakfast, putting on a shirt, and shaving all become darkly disturbing.
However, that iconic introduction wasn’t given an updated iteration in Dexter: New Blood. Rather, New Blood’s episodes would open with quick flashes of upcoming events from the episode followed by the icy title card, which became bloodier with each outing. Considering how memorable the original morning routine introduction became, it was surprising that New Blood opted for a completely different opener.
Emphasizing how synonymous that opening was with the original series, Showtime’s prequel series Dexter: Original Sin returned to the morning routine introduction format. Original Sin’s version of the morning routine was very similar to the main show’s, with Patrick Gibson’s Dexter Morgan, Christian Slater’s Harry Morgan, and Molly Brown’s Debra Morgan waking up, shaving, dressing, making breakfast, and painting nails in a sinister fashion.
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Dexter: Resurrection episode 3 features Dexter’s first kill in New York City, although his method of disposal is very different from his OG approach.
With Original Sin reverting to the morning routine opening credits sequence, it’s shocking that Resurrection didn’t follow suit. Rather, Dexter: Resurrection repeats New Blood’s introduction style: a quick-cut montage of events from the episode followed by the title card immersed in the next scene’s landscape.
Dexter: Resurrection Abandoning The Morning Routine Introduction Makes Sense
It Doesn’t Fit Dexter’s Daily Lifestyle Anymore
Though it’s disappointing to not have an updated version of the morning routine tradition, it makes sense why Dexter: Resurrection went a different route. Unlike in Dexter and Original Sin, Resurrection’s Dexter Morgan doesn’t wake up every morning putting on the mask of a “normal” man to go to work.
| Dexter TV Show | Opening Credits Intro Style |
|---|---|
| Dexter | Morning Routine |
| Dexter: New Blood | Montage |
| Dexter: Original Sin | Morning Routine |
| Dexter: Resurrection | Montage |
He wakes up and gets to be the real Dexter Morgan each day, always out on the hunt rather than working for Miami Metro PD. Making innocent daily routines incredibly sinister wouldn’t have the same symbolic meaning in Dexter: Resurrection as it did in previous shows, as he isn’t as pressured to cover up his dark, killer urges and appear “normal” to everyone all day.
Dexter: Resurrection
9/10
- Release Date
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July 13, 2025
- Network
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Paramount+ with Showtime
- Directors
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Marcos Siega
- Writers
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Scott Buck
