The departing Showtime drama lost some of its luster, failing to be honored as a series and for its main actors, including Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter.
Showtime entertainment president David Nevins dropped a massive teaser for a potential Dexter spinoff Tuesday at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.
Shortly after announcing that the cabler had inked Dexter showrunner Scott Buck to a two-year overall deal to develop new projects for the premium network, Nevins told the assembled press that there may be life left in the series following its upcoming series finale.
STORY: Showtime Boss Won’t Rule Out ‘Dexter’ Spinoff
“We announced a deal with Scott Buck today, draw your own conclusions,” he said from the stage.
Pressed following his executive session, Nevins told THR after the panel that nothing was “actively” happening with a spinoff of the Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter starrer and that none of the serial killer drama’s cast have had their contracts extended beyond this season.
“It’s not necessarily a spinoff,” Nevins told reporters after the panel. “All options will be explored. We’re really not dealing with it at all until we’re through this season and maybe for a while thereafter.”
The executive noted that his focus right now is purely on delivering a “satisfying ending” to the show that helped put Showtime on the original scripted programming map.
STORY: It’s Official: ‘Dexter’ Confirmed for Final Season
“We have a deal with Scott and we’re going to develop a bunch of different things with him, there’s nothing else to be concluded at this point,” he said. “There’s no sense of whether it will happen and if it will happen but I want to stay in business with Scott.”
While he teased that the series ends with “great satisfaction” and the finale is “brilliantly built,” he stopped short of saying whether the final installment of Dexter would leave the door open for an obvious spinoff.
“There’s always things that can be done,” he said, declining to single out one character he’d like to see continue on. “They’re all interesting characters.”
Nevins told THR in April that he wouldn’t “rule out” a potential spinoff built around Carpenter’s foul-mouthed detective.
“All options are on the table as to where it could go after this,” he said at the time. “There’s nothing actively happening, but you never know what the future holds. We need to get through this season and see how the dust settles and then see where we go from there. I won’t rule it out, but I’m not actively planning anything.
Dexter airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Showtime. The series finale will air in September.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
