'Dexter: New Blood' Ending Explained: Is Dexter Really Dead?

Dexter: New Blood came to an end on Sunday, January 9 with its tenth episode, "Sins of the Father."

Following the killing of Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) and his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) planned to live a "normal" life and build their familial bond through blood, but fate had other ideas for them.

**Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Dexter: New Blood finale**

All the Dramatic Events that Unfolded in the 'Dexter: New Blood' Finale

Dexter: New Blood opened where the last episode left off, in the aftermath of Kurt burning down Dexter's home with the police and fire brigade investigating the arson attack.

Harrison covers for Dexter by suggesting it could have been done by the friends of the wrestler whose arm he broke earlier in the season, and the pair believe that's all the explanation they'll need.

But that wasn't to be as Police Chief Angela Bishop (Julia Jones) found one of the titanium screws from Matt Caldwell's body, giving her enough evidence to arrest Dexter for his death.

Dexter, of course, will do anything to save his own skin and get away with murder so he tries to pin it all on Kurt, suggesting that he could have accidentally killed his own son.

But Angela has been onto Dexter for a while now and even believes he is the real Bayharbor Butcher, and she goes so far as to call Angel Bautista (David Zayas) to ask him about the original case and show him a picture of the killer.

Bautista learns that Dexter is alive and says he'll come up to Iron Lake with his case file on the late Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez), who Dexter's sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) killed in Season 7 to protect his secret life.

Angela brings Dexter in for interrogation again and shares how the recent attacks in Iron Lake match the Bayharbor Butcher case, but the serial killer deflects attention back to Kurt, telling Angela about his hidden mausoleum of the countless women he killed.

She leaves him with Logan (Alano Miller) at the station to investigate further, but Dexter kills him in order to escape after the police sergeant refused to let him out of his cell.

Dexter manages to escape and tells Harrison to meet him in the woods where the white Buck was killed by Matt Caldwell several weeks earlier, while Angela discovers Kurt's victims and learns that Dexter killed Logan in order to escape.

The episode reaches its climax when Dexter meets with Harrison, telling him they have to leave if they want to escape before more police show up, but their interaction takes a dramatic turn.

Is Dexter Really Dead?

Harrison confronts Dexter about killing Logan, taking a swipe at the code and how he actually lets his Dark Passenger "drive," because he likes being controlled by his desire to kill people.

Dexter tries to persuade his son that he wants, and needs, to be with him, but Harrison stands firm and so the serial killer resigns himself to leaving Iron Lake without him.

However, Harrison has his hunting rifle with him and he tells his dad to turn himself into police, rather than run away Dexter makes peace with his fate and tells Harrison he needs to kill him because it is the only way to stop him from hurting more people.

Harrison does shoot him and Dexter collapses to the ground, seeing Debra as his Dark Passenger one last time and telling Harrison he "did good."

Dexter is then seen bleeding out in the snow before taking his last breath, marking the end of the character.

The episode ends with Angela coming across the pair and letting Harrison escape, he then reads the letter Dexter wrote to Hannah (Yvonne Strahovski) in Season 8, and it closes with the serial killer declaring that he has to "die so [his] son to live."

In the context of the letter, Dexter meant Hannah should keep his survival a secret, but it served as a grim foreshadowing of his fate in New Blood, and how the only way Harrison could be free to live his own life would be with his demise.

Dexter: New Blood is available to stream in full on Showtime now.