One of the stars of Dexter: New Blood received death threats after the revival’s divisive finale.
The Dexter franchise has been running on and off for nearly 20 years. The show premiered in 2006, and it ran for eight seasons. Dexter: New Blood followed from 2021 to 2022, and Dexter: Original Sin premiered in 2024. It’s one of Showtime’s longest-running franchises, and the latest sequel series, Dexter: Resurrection, is already renewed for season 2.
At the 53rd Saturn Awards, Jack Alcott (Harrison Morgan) told The Direct that he received multiple death threats for “a solid year after New Blood.” The death threats followed Harrison’s role in the finale, where he shot his father, Dexter. He added that some of the threats were “concerning, but most of them were, ‘I’m gonna Dexter you on a Dexter table.'”
The Dexter: New Blood season 1 finale left many fans divided. Harrison shot his father after realizing that his code had essentially become a justification for violence rather than a true moral system. Attempting to escape jail, Dexter killed Sergeant Logan, which marked the turning point for Harrison.
However, the most recent Dexter series, Dexter: Resurrection, has complicated the fan backlash to his character’s actions because the series reveals that Dexter survived the gunshot, then followed him to New York. Resurrection is a continuation of New Blood with an even bigger focus on Dexter and Harrison navigating their own darkness together.
Rather than permanently ending Dexter’s story, the shooting pushed both characters into their new chapter. Harrison, although an important character, was much newer to the already established Dexter universe. This could suggest why fans were more inclined to be angry over the actions of a lesser-fleshed-out character.
Now moving forward, Harrison is no longer just the son who attempted to kill Dexter. He’s a central part of the franchise’s ongoing exploration of whether Dexter’s darkness can be inherited or even changed. Fans are seeing Harrison change in real time, thinking of Dexter one moment as a hero, and one moment as someone out of control.
In the Dexter: Resurrection season 1 finale, Harrison helps Dexter escape Leon Prater’s vault. Prater later catches Harrison and takes him hostage, but he sedates Prater, allowing Dexter to regain control and kill him. This shows Harrison’s character changing as the series continues to develop, introducing more possibilities for him as well as Dexter’s newer characters.
In regard to the fan backlash and threats, Alcott also told The Direct, “…that was upsetting initially, but the more I got it, the more I was reminded that… you don’t need everybody to like you.”
He added:
“I think, as an actor, as a storyteller, you want to just affect your audience. And so, if you did want to kill me, then I think I did my job. I made you feel some type of way about it. So, I started taking that as a compliment. I definitely prefer this, the character being liked to the character being despised.”
Alcott’s comments show how intense the response to New Blood became, but Resurrection has already changed the way Harrison is fitting into the story moving forward. The series raises many questions about right versus wrong, challenging viewers over which characters are “being liked” versus “despised.” Harrison is now becoming a larger part of the series’ future as the father-son dynamic continues evolving.
Video Game(s)
Dexter: The Game
Cast
Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee, Luna Lauren Velez, Desmond Harrington, Julie Benz, Erik King, Geoff Pierson, Aimee Garcia, Yvonne Strahovski, John Lithgow, Jimmy Smits, Colin Hanks
Created by
James Manos Jr.
Latest TV Show
Dexter: Original Sin