The Showtime Prequel is beating a dead horse

It doesn’t seem possible for “Dexter,” as a franchise, to move forward. In the final moments of the sequel series “New Blood,” which aired eight years after the original series finale in 2013, Michael C. Hall’s serial killer was fatally shot. (Or at least he appeared to be—more on that in a second.) This development marked, on its surface, the end of the road for one of the defining tracks of the anti-hero era, a role Hall had played for 15 years at the time. Sure, yet another the follow-up, “Resurrection,” would pass the torch to Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott). But if the Showtime network wanted to keep wringing drops from this blood-soaked towel, the only way back was to go back.

Amazingly, the prequel “Dexter: Original Sin” tries to have it both ways. Not only that, the 10-episode season – which was not anticipated for critics – rewinds time to 1991, when a 20-year-old Dexter (Patrick Gibson) graduates from the University of Miami and joins the local police force as a paid intern. The show, created by original “Dexter” showrunner Clyde Phillips, also regrets the seeming finality of “New Blood.” It turns out that Dexter survived, and the events of “Original Sin” are framed as memories he thinks about while lying on the operating table. Before Gibson is introduced, the camera zooms in so that the “Emergency Room” sign reads “Emerge” instead.

The immediate, insurmountable problem with “Original Sin” is that the same superfans who make up its target audience already know its major events because “Dexter” itself was chock full of flashbacks. Christian Slater may be new to the role of Detective Harry Morgan, but it’s well-established “Dexter” lore that Harry helped his adopted son channel his “Dark Passenger” into more (arguably) constructive ends by targeting other killers. Even the identity of his first victim, a nurse who preyed on her patients, is locked into the canon. There aren’t many gaps left in Dexter’s early life that “Original Sin” can fill.

“Original Sin” chooses to steer into the slide and embrace repetition rather than strain to avoid it. Dexter’s colleagues Batista (James Martinez) and Masuka (Alex Shimizu) are introduced exactly as they will be in the first series, right down to their costumes: Batista is a gregarious mensch in a fedora, Masuka is a crooked lech, and both are already installed in the Miami Metro. While Maria LaGuerta (Christina Milian) at least gets a backstory as a new detective who has been publicly critical of the homicide unit’s disproportionate focus on white, wealthy victims, she is not to a far cry from the woman she will be in 15 years. Gibson spends most of the premiere in a ridiculous wig of surfer curls; by the end, he’s got Hall’s haircut, and his inner monologue sounds suspiciously like his predecessor. (Hall returns IRL for the opening scene, but retreats to the sound booth to provide narration throughout.)

Dexter may be a relative novice at 20 years old, but he’s already got his job of wrapping his victims and their surroundings in plastic – both to contain them and to allow for efficient cleanup – dialed in. His sister Deb (Molly Brown) is a goofy teenager, and there’s a faint whiff of novelty to “Original Sin” as a demented family sitcom about a grieving family with some deadly secrets. (In 1991, Deb and Dexter’s mother have recently passed away.) Dexter’s first kill, initiated by the nurse who poisoned Harry when he is hospitalized after a heart attack, is interrupted by Deb’s high school volleyball game. But there’s not enough to dispel the impression that “Original Sin” just plays the hits, right down to a soundtrack of ’90s touchstones like “Ice Ice Baby.” The show could have taken more time to get Dexter going; instead, he gets his bloodlust satisfied and gets the job in 45 minutes of screen time.

“Original Sin” offers some new information via Harry, who gets his own garishly colorful timeline set in the 1970s. But the device just becomes an echo of “Dexter” flashbacks and calls attention to how much the little ’90s timeline needs to be filled out. The “fresh” faces in the “Original Sin” ensemble are themselves avatars of nostalgia: Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Dexter’s new boss, while Patrick Dempsey appears as the mustachioed, helmeted police chief. (At least the hair and makeup departments are having fun!) “Original Sin” doesn’t breathe new life into a piece of IP that’s now old enough to vote. However, it represents the profit-seeking hindsight that eats culture from the inside out like a termite attack. All that remains is a hollow structure to be blown away by the next Miami storm.

The first episode of “Dexter: Original Sin” is now streaming on Paramount+ and will premiere on Showtime on December 15 at 10 p.m. ET, with the remaining episodes streaming on Fridays and airing on Sundays.