Dexter: Resurrection has come out of the gate strong with its first three episodes, bringing back everyone’s favorite vigilante serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall). Along with him are a few returning characters from the original, namely Detective Angel Batista (David Zayas) and the ghost of his father, Harry Morgan (James Remar). But, there’s one crucial character missing from the mix, and fans are curious as to why.
Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) is Dexter’s adoptive sister, the person to whom he was arguably the closest throughout his entire life. While she died at the end of Dexter, she did appear as a manifestation of his conscience in the limited sequel series Dexter: New Blood, in place of Harry. However, she doesn’t appear in this series at all and is not tapped to do so. There’s actually a pretty good reason why.
Debra Was Reflective of a Different Version of Dexter
Showtime
To understand why Debra became the new voice of reason in Dexter’s head, and the physical entity only he could see in Dexter: New Blood, it’s first important to understand where the character was at during that time in his life. Following the events at the end of Dexter, Dexter drove his boat out into the water, dumped Debra’s dead body into the ocean, and continued into the eye of a hurricane. He was convinced he wouldn’t make it out. When he miraculously did, he figured he had a greater purpose.
He settled in a small community known as Iron Lake where he went under the assumed name Jim Lindsay, a nod to Jeff Lindsay, the author of the book series the original show is based on. He took a simple job at a local shop. He spent his days sticking to a strict routine to help quell his Dark Passenger. The less he deviated from that, the better he could suppress his urges to kill. And he did this successfully for a decade. This is largely thanks to Debra becoming the vision he saw, the voice in his head trying to help keep him on track.
In Dexter: Resurrection, however, Dexter has gone back to his old ways. He killed several people in Iron Lake, including getting the heinous serial killer Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown) on his table. He was saved thanks to the actions of his ex-girlfriend and Iron Lake police chief Angela (Julia Jones). But his true identity and the fact that he’s still alive are now known (though his actions as a serial killer are still question marks). He can finally be Dexter Morgan again.
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Thus, it makes sense that Harry, the person who guided him through learning and living by The Code, would be back in his ear and appearing in front of him once again. In an interview with Screen Rant, Remar confirms that when Dexter was in Iron Lake, he needed Debra, who was the “don’t do it” voice. Even though Debra found out who he was before she died, she didn’t know the extent of who Dexter was, what he was capable of doing, and how strong his dark urges were. So, it makes sense that while Dexter is in Iron Lake and trying to restrain himself, he would hear and see Debra, not Harry. “He’s not doing the old behavior and that’s why she’s there more, it seems to me, than Harry,” Remar confirms.
By contrast, in Dexter: Resurrection, the “old” Dexter has been reawakened. “He’s resurrected, and he needs that code,” Remar notes. Harry is the only one to help him through that. Debra would never encourage Dexter to kill someone, whereas Harry might feel it’s justified. He just urges Dexter to do things the right way, and in a way that won’t get him caught. Harry is also now coming to it from a different place since Dexter realizes he has to take Harrison (Jack Alcott) into consideration, too.
What Jennifer Carpenter Has to Say About It
CBS/Showtime
For her part, Jennifer Carpenter, who portrayed the fan-favorite character in the original series, told People that she feels as though she has “completed that box” when it comes to playing Debra. “I’m proud of it. I hope that they’re having a wonderful time, and I’m so happy for the fans to have more to chew on.”
This hasn’t stopped fans from wondering if she might make a surprise cameo appearance. While the first two episodes showed three returning characters from the original appearing to Dexter as coma hallucinations — Arthur Mitchell a.k.a. Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), and Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King) — there’s another deceased character confirmed to appear who hasn’t yet. Debra could be a good counter to the way he might show up.
Brian Moser (Christian Camargo) was Dexter’s biological older brother who he killed to protect Debra and himself from leaning too far into his Dark Passenger (plus, he more than met The Code). In Season 6 of the original, Brian reappears as a manifestation of Dexter’s Dark Passenger after he viciously kills Nick (Germaine De Leon) against Brother Sam’s (Mos Def) wishes. Dexter breaks The Code at this moment, and thus Brian emerges as his darkness.
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Camargo slyly teased his appearance with a TikTok video, and fans wonder if, with Dexter seemingly starting to care about victims as much as he possesses a desire to kill, Brian and Debra could both appear fighting for Dexter’s attention. They might even help him justify his actions in different ways.
Debra did once, after all, sort of approve of murder. In Season 5, she let Lumen (Julia Stiles) and Dexter (though she didn’t know it was him at the time) go free, even though she knew these two mysterious figures she could not see behind a sheet killed Jordan Chase (Jonny Lee Miller) and his friends. After seeing the atrocious things they did to their innocent female victims, Debra understood what this “vigilante couple” was doing and didn’t think they deserved to go down for it. So, it stands to reason that Dexter could hear Debra’s voice advising him that it’s okay to kill if the person has done incredibly horrible things.
Debra likely won’t appear in Dexter: Resurrection because Harry is the part of Dexter that doesn’t try to fight the Dark Passenger, but rather control it. Debra, by contrast, was focused on helping keep Dexter on a path he would never have been able to sustain. Debra’s voice would only yell, “Don’t do it, Dexter.” That might have worked with Jim Lindsay. But for Dexter Morgan, even Debra’s voice isn’t loud enough to fight back against the Dark Passenger.
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