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How Dexter was being built to be the next Yellowstone-sized franchise, and how Paramount's new bosses killed it all
Paramount had plans to build a universe of shows around Dexter, following in the footsteps of the Yellowstone franchise
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For a time, it looked like Paramount+ was going all in on Dexter. In the past year we’ve seen the prequel series Dexter: Original Sin, and a sequel series Dexter: Resurrection. At one point there was talk of a spinoff about Dexter’s son Harrison and a prequel about John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer.
According to Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, Paramount wanted to create a Dexter universe, and they were using Yellowstone as their template. Paramount had previously capitalized on Yellowstone’s success with multiple spinoffs, such as 1883 and 1923, in addition to all the other spinoffs in development.
“This was all under the aegis of Chris McCarthy at Paramount, who got pushed out when Paramount changed. He wanted the Dexterverse to expand. He wanted me to be his new [Yellowstone co-creator] Taylor Sheridan,” Clyde Phillips says during an appearance on the Dissecting Dexter podcast.
According to Phillips, everything changed after Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media. This resulted in Dexter: Original Sin being cancelled, despite having been greenlit for a second season. The Trinity prequel is also not expected to move forward, despite ten scripts being written.
“Chris McCarthy was the Yellowstone guy. And Yellowstone had a couple of prequels to it, to set it up – 1883 and 1923. After New Blood, Showtime picked up Harrison’s story, and we wrote ten scripts of Harrison, which was completely different than where he ended up in Resurrection, because Dexter wasn’t involved. And then they picked up Trinity. We wrote ten scripts of Trinity. I mean, I live in the East Coast. I was in LA for over a year with my writers, writing all these shows, creating the verse. And then the merger happened, and Paramount had other plans. And you know what, it’s their show, it’s their money, and they can do what they want.”
The plans to make Dexter a universe might be shuttered, but Paramount+ is still moving forward with Dexter Resurrection, which recently concluded its first season. The second season will begin filming in 2026.
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