Dexter is officially over. The long-running serial killer drama aired the Dexter finale last night, after a tenure of eight seasons on Showtime. This article will not provide any spoilers on the finale, but if you missed the episode, feel free to read our official recap for a full breakdown and analysis. As the credits rolled, it seemed that most of the show’s fanbase was extremely disappointed with the finale.
E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos sought out Clyde Phillips, a very important name to the Dexter mythos, to find out his perspective on the Dexter finale that aired and how he would have liked to see the show end. Phillips served as both an executive producer and showrunner for Dexter’s first four seasons, which many fans consider as the show’s best era. He left in 2009 after finishing the fourth season to pursue other projects, and he currently serves as the showrunner for Nurse Jackie.
Phillips said that he thought that the staff did a good job with the Dexter finale, but it turns out he had a very different, very specific view for the finale.
“In the very last scene of the series, Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, it was a dream.’ And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, ‘No, it’s not a dream.’ Dexter’s opening his eyes and he’s on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.
“And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he’s arguably responsible for, Rita, who he’s arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.
“That’s what I envisioned for the ending of Dexter. That everything we’ve seen over the past eight seasons has happened in the several seconds from the time they start Dexter’s execution to the time they finish the execution and he dies. Literally, his life flashed before his eyes as he was about to die. I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion.”
Phillips said that there’s no guarantee that this would have been the ending we ended up with if he did choose to stay with the show. He claimed that there really wasn’t any one single person in charge of the show’s direction, and it could have ended up going very differently. I personally think that would have been a really really good ending for the show; certainly it would have been better than the one we ended up with. It seems that the fans were actually wanting to see Dexter die or get some kind of punishment, so it would have actually fit.
But what do you think about Phillips’ pitch? Do you prefer his idea, or the actual version that aired? Do you have your own ideas about how the Dexter finale should have ended? Why don’t you just tell us what you think in the comments below?
Source: E! Online