It doesn’t seem possible for “Dexter” to move forward as a franchise. In the final moments of the sequel series New Blood, which aired eight years after the original series finale in 2013, serial killer Michael C. Hall was fatally shot. (Or at least him appeared (more on that in a moment.) On the surface, this development marked the end of the road for one of the defining leading men of the antihero era, a role Hall had been playing for 15 years at the time. Sure, yes another The sequel, Resurrection, would pass the torch to Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott). But if the network Showtime wanted to continue squeezing drops out of that blood-soaked towel, there was only direction left.

Incredibly, the prequel “Dexter: Original Sin” attempts to do both. Not only that, the 10-episode season, for which there were no advance screenings for critics, turns the clock back to 1991, when 20-year-old Dexter (Patrick Gibson) graduates from the University of Miami and sets out on his career to the USA as a paid intern with the local police. The show, created by original “Dexter” showrunner Clyde Phillips, also shatters the seeming finality of “New Blood.” As it turns out, Dexter survived, and the events of “Original Sin” are presented as memories he reflects on on the operating table. Before Gibson is introduced, the camera zooms in so that the “Emergency Room” sign reads “Emerge” instead.

The immediate, insurmountable problem with “Original Sin” is that the same superfans who make up its target audience are already familiar with the major events, since “Dexter” itself was full of flashbacks. Christian Slater may be new to the role of Detective Harry Morgan, but it’s long-established “Dexter” lore that Harry helped his adopted son channel his “dark passenger” to (questionably) more constructive ends by helping others Targeted murderer. Even the identity of his first victim, a nurse who took advantage of her patients, is established in canon. There aren’t many gaps left in Dexter’s early life for “Original Sin” to fill.

“Original Sin” chooses to flounder and embrace repetition rather than go to great lengths to avoid it. Dexter’s colleagues Batista (James Martinez) and Masuka (Alex Shimizu) are introduced exactly as they will be in the first season, right down to their costumes: Batista is a fedora-wearing gregarious person, Masuka is a dumb lech, and both are it already installed in the Miami Metro. While Maria LaGuerta (Christina Milian) at least gets a backstory as a new detective who has publicly criticized the homicide unit’s disproportionate focus on white, wealthy victims, she is not The a far cry from the woman she will be in 15 years. Gibson spends most of the premiere wearing a ridiculous wig of surfer curls; He ends up with Hall’s haircut and his inner monologue sounds suspiciously like his predecessor’s. (Hall returns for the opening scene, but retreats to the sound booth to provide commentary throughout.)

Dexter may be a relative newcomer at 20 years old, but he’s already committed to wrapping his victims and their surroundings in plastic – both to restrain them and to facilitate efficient cleanup. His sister Deb (Molly Brown) is a bratty teenage girl, and “Original Sin” has a slight touch of novelty as a demented family sitcom about a grieving family with some deadly secrets. (In 1991, Deb and Dexter’s mother has recently died.) Dexter’s first murder, sparked by the nurse’s poisoning of Harry when he is hospitalized after a heart attack, is interrupted by Deb’s high school volleyball game. But that’s not enough to erase the impression that “Original Sin” just replays the hits, right down to a soundtrack of ’90s classics like “Ice Ice Baby.” The show could have used more time to get Dexter going; Instead, he satisfies his bloodlust and gets the job in 45 minutes of play.

“Original Sin” offers some new information about Harry, who is given his own brightly colored timeline set in the 1970s. But the device simply turns into an echo of the “Dexter” flashbacks, drawing attention to how much the little ’90s timeline needs filling up. The “fresh” faces in the “Original Sin” ensemble are themselves avatars of nostalgia: Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Dexter’s new boss, while Patrick Dempsey appears as the mustachioed, helmet-haired police chief. (At least the hair and makeup departments are having fun!) “Original Sin” doesn’t bring new life to a piece of intellectual property that’s now old enough to vote. However, it represents the acquisitive hindsight that is devouring culture from within like a plague of termites. All that remains is a hollow structure that will be swept away by the next Miami storm.

The first episode of “Dexter: Original Sin” is now streaming on Paramount+ and premieres December 15th at 10pm ET on Showtime. The remaining episodes stream on Fridays and air on Sundays.