Dexter: New Blood star Clancy Brown doesn’t think that Dexter actually cares about his son Harrison. Showtime began airing its 10-episode limited series in November, hoping to remedy the poor reception of Dexter season 8’s original ending. Brown plays Kurt Caldwell, a serial killer who has been killing women, embalming them, and placing them in trophy cases for the last 25 years.
One of the biggest complaints about Dexter season 8 was that Dexter abandoned his son in Argentina with Hannah McKay. Even though the show explained he didn’t want to get his loved ones hurt anymore after Deb died, the decision never sat well with fans or critics. New Blood has fixed that plot point, making Harrison a key character for all ten episodes. After tracking his dad to Iron Lake, New York, Harrison begins living with Dexter and eventually tells his father about his dark tendencies.
Even though New Blood deals with Dexter and Harrison bonding after a decade apart, Brown doesn’t think the former blood-spatter analyst really cares about his son. In an interview with Collider, when asked if Kurt ever had any sincere feelings for Harrison, Brown answered no, saying that his character was a sociopath and also didn’t care for his son, Matt. Brown’s full quote on the relationship between Harrison and Dexter can be read below:
I don’t think sociopaths care about anybody, to be honest with you. I don’t think Dexter really cares that much about Harrison. I mean, he might try. And I don’t think that Kurt really cared that much about Matt. I think they care about what they mean to them in terms of their own existence, in terms of whatever and however it might be accomplished. But I don’t think Kurt had any illusions of affection for Harrison. And probably Jack [Alcott] will not agree with that, and maybe Clyde will disagree with it, but I just think these people like this, they’re sociopaths. They really don’t care about anyone else and they enjoy manipulating them. Sometimes they’re really good at it, and I think Kurt has gotten really good at manipulating a lot of his life around his addiction. But I don’t think he’s a good guy at all. And I don’t think Dexter’s a good guy, by the way.
What Brown is saying seems to match the way Dexter was at the beginning of the original series. Dexter originally sought out a girlfriend to appear normal. After being with Rita for so long, Dexter started feeling genuine emotion towards her, which was a strange and unfamiliar feeling for him. Eventually, they get married, and when Harrison is born, he seems to genuinely have a strong bond with him despite having sociopathic tendencies. Dexter evolved a lot over the eight seasons the original show was on the air, which is part of the reason so many were mad that Dexter abandoned Harrison in the final season.
Dexter has done his best to fix the fractured relationship with Harrison in this new revival series. Rather than telling him right away that he is a serial killer, Dexter did everything he could to have a normal relationship with his son by protecting him from the truth. Ultimately, that plan didn’t work, resulting in Dexter killing Kurt in front of Harrison. It’s unknown how Dexter and Harrison’s story will end in the season finale of Dexter: New Blood. However, the way the show has played out thus far, it seems that Dexter has been able to form a genuine connection with another person.
