With any hugely successful show, there almost always come spinoffs, and if those spinoffs mess with the franchise timeline, like Dexter, it can be hard to know how to watch them in order. Dexter made Michael C. Hall, who played the titular role, a bona fide star. Hall’s turn as the forensic pathologist-slash-serial killer of serial killers was alternately gripping and fascinating, and he made Dexter Morgan a truly iconic figure in pop culture.

Since the original series ended, Showtime has greenlit several spinoffs, though two never made it past the first season. Along the way, other planned spinoffs, including one focused on John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer, were axed, but others are yet in development. With so many offshoots of the Dexter franchise, here’s how to watch all Dexter spinoffs in order, both by release date and chronologically.

Every Dexter Show In Release Order

The original Dexter premiered on Showtime in 2006 and became a legitimate cultural phenomenon. While Dexter initially received great reviews, sadly, the eighth and final season of the original series fell off a cliff and is largely regarded as quite bad. Showtime attempted to rectify that in 2021 with Dexter: New Blood, which acted as a continuation of the show. However, New Blood‘s finale was just as divisive as Dexter‘s.

A few years later, Showtime greenlit the prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin, the first show to portray the characters played by other actors. After receiving a renewal order in April 2025, Dexter: Original Sin season 2 was canceled in a reversal. That leaves Dexter: Resurrection, another sequel series that returns Michael C. Hall to the titular role, as the lone ongoing Dexter show, currently.

In order of release, the Dexter franchise shows run:

How To Watch The Dexter Shows In Chronological Order

Zach Dilgard/Paramount+

Watching the shows in release order is how most audiences have come to the, but, if you’re the kind of person who prefers to watch things according to in-universe chronology, then the order changes itself up a bit. If that’s your preference, then this is the viewing order you want:

Dexter: Original Sin

Dexter: Original Sin is, thus far, the show set earliest in the franchise’s timeline. It chronicles the events of a younger Dexter Morgan (played by Patrick Gibson), as the current Dexter looks back on his youth. Set in 1991, 15 years before the start of the original Dexter, Original Sin follows Dexter as he’s just starting out as a forensic intern at the Miami Metro Police Department. It also explores the fraught relationship with his adoptive father, Harry (Christian Slater), who died before the events of the original series.

Dexter

The show that started it all, Dexter ran for eight seasons for a reason. Michael C. Hall was magnetic in the role of Dexter Morgan, a forensic examiner who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer who hunts and tracks other serial killers. The show explored Dexter’s life as he juggled his two halves, struggling to be as much of a normal human being as possible and channeling his psychopathic tendencies into killing monsters worse than him.

Dexter: New Blood

There’s a substantial time jump between the ending of Dexter and the start of Dexter: New Blood, which is set ten years after the Dexter season 8 finale. A decade after faking his death in Dexter season 8, Dexter Morgan is now residing in a small town in upstate New York and trying to live a normal life. He’s successfully managed to suppress his urges, and is even in a romantic relationship. However, his control threatens to slip when his son Harrison, from his former life, shows up, and Dexter fears that he may have the same “Dark Passenger” that he does.

Dexter: Resurrection

Lastly, there’s Dexter: Resurrection, which picks up just 10 weeks after the events of Dexter: New Blood. Dexter is still recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound he received in the finale of New Blood, and heads to New York to track down Harrison. As of the time of this writing, New Blood has been renewed for another season, making it the only Dexter franchise show airing new episodes at the moment.

Created by

James Manos Jr.

First Episode Air Date

October 1, 2006

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