“Dexter: Original Sin” creator Clyde Phillips has spoken out after the renewal — and then cancellation — of the Paramount+ serial killer prequel series.
Despite the series getting renewed for Season 2 in April, Variety broke the news in August that “Original Sin” had, in fact, been killed by the streamer.
“It was a tough phone call that I got that night. They had already picked up the show, and I’d informed all the writers and informed all the actors, and then they un-picked it up,” Phillips said on the “Dissecting Dexter” podcast. “It wasn’t handled well, and I’m not happy about it.”
While the prequel, starring Patrick Gibson as a younger Dexter Morgan, will not return for Season 2, Paramount+ plans to open a writers room for a potential Season 2 of “Dexter: Resurrection,” Variety reported in August.
On the “Dissecting Dexter” podcast, Phillips said his plans for the franchise were shaken up by Paramount’s merger with Skydance. Phillips claimed former Paramount boss Chris McCarthy “wanted the ‘Dexter’-verse to expand.”
“He wanted me to be his new Taylor Sheridan,” Phillips said, referring to the creator of “Yellowstone” and its bevy of spinoff series across Paramount+ and CBS. “We plotted out a couple of years of this, looking forward to introducing new characters,” Phillips added, hinting that he was developing spinoff ideas based on younger versions of James Doakes (Erik King) and Captain Matthews (Geoff Pierson).
Phillips also mentioned the “Trinity” spinoff in development, which would be a prequel show centered on the killer played by John Lithgow in the original “Dexter.” Phillips said he spent a year in Los Angeles with a writers room and completed 10 scripts of “Trinity,” plus 10 scripts on a project following Dexter’s son Harrison, which would have taken the character in a “completely different direction than where he ended up in ‘Resurrection,’ because Dexter wasn’t involved.”
Phillips said he spent a year “writing all these shows” and “creating the [‘Dexter’]-verse,” but “then the merger happened and Paramount had other plans.” Asked if there has been any movement on the “Trinity” series, Phillips said it’s still on the “back-burner” and “I honestly don’t think [Paramount is] going to go for it. I just think think they’re interested in ‘Resurrection.’”
“If they cancel ‘Original Sin,’ which is a built-in hit, how are they going to pick up ‘Trinity’?” Phillips asked. “If they do, I’d be delighted, but I don’t see them doing it.”