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Resurrection,’ This Forgotten 3-Part Spin-Off Is Ready for a Rewatch

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Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has been one of TV’s most fascinating characters for two decades, so much so that fans refuse to let go of him. After the failed ending of the popular original series, Dexter, there was a spinoff sequel, Dexter: New Blood, which tried to fix things, followed by a better-than-expected prequel, Dexter: Original Sin. Finally, the franchise got it right with Dexter: Resurrection. After a great first season, the show is set to come back for a second. That wait is far off, though. If you’re craving more Dexter Morgan, check out the lost series you may have never even knew existed, an animated one that you can still find on YouTube today.

‘Dexter Early Cuts’ Was a Series of Short Animated Films on YouTube

Dexter Early Cuts premiered in 2009 during the run of the original Showtime series. Long before Dexter: Original Sin, which starred Patrick Gibson as the serial killer in his early days, audiences wanted to know more about who he was before we first met him. Dexter Early Cuts fills in some of those blanks in a unique way. From 2009 to 2012, three seasons of Dexter Early Cuts were released as a clever way to promote the upcoming new episodes. By putting the content on YouTube, free for all to see, it increased interest in what you had to pay to see later on Showtime.

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Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most?
Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

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👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

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01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?
Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.





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The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.





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The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.





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Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.





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What is your relationship with power?
How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.





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How does your universe treat good and evil?
A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.





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What role would you naturally fall into?
Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?





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What do you ultimately believe about the future?
The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.





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Your Universe Has Been Chosen
You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

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A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

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Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

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The Wizarding World

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

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Westeros · The Known World

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

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  • Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
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The United Federation of Planets

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

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  • Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
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  • The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
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The first season of Dexter Early Cuts consisted of 12 easy-to-digest mini-episodes, with runtimes that clocked in at only a few minutes. The familiar music of the intro is there, complete with a quick shot of darkened images of bodies, a syringe, and a spot of blood. Released weekly, the first season takes a burgeoning Dexter Morgan on his journey of tracking down and taking out three serial killers. Season 2 of Dexter Early Cuts, subtitled Dark Echo, did things a bit differently, with only six episodes, and all coming out the same day in October 2010. Two years later, in late summer 2012, came a third and final season, subtitled All in the Family, this time going back to the better format of one mini episode per week.

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‘Dexter Early Cuts’ Is a Richly Drawn Exploration of Dexter Morgan’s Origins

Dexter Early Cuts is not as good as the original show it promoted. It’s not as good as what’s come after either. But it’s not supposed to be. With such limited time to work with, there is only so much the series can do. Still, it’s much more than filler or a lazy commercial for Dexter. It’s a compelling series, with Michael C. Hall back as the narrator, and a journey that takes Dexter from multiple victims at the start of the journey to a season-long big bad, and in the last season, a father-and-son duo who will challenge our anti-hero in new ways.

Dexter Early Cuts isn’t perfect. We know Dexter is in no danger, and the short runtime makes it difficult to get invested in the evolution of his mind or who the antagonists are. They are simple fodder. The animation style is also an effect you’ll either love or be frustrated with. In our opinion, it works. Rather than being a simple, twisted cartoon of sorts, Dexter Early Cuts is more akin to a graphic novel. It mostly stays still, with zoom-ins and zoom-outs, the camera moving across the page from one frame to the next. The little movement there is, with mouths moving on still characters, feels disjointed and off-kilter, just like the rich, exaggerated colors that are often hurried, scratched, and frayed. It’s purposely imperfect and not lifelike, which serves to make it unsettling. The simplicity also forces the viewer to use their imagination rather than being shown everything.

It’s truly art, and a style taken seriously because of who is involved. Season 1 is illustrated by Kyle Baker, a former illustrator for Marvel Comics who has been around since the 1980s. The second is a joint production by Bill Sienkiewicz (a surrealist who influenced The New Mutants movie) and David Mack (a writer and artist for Daredevil Marvel Comics), before Mack handles the duties on his own in Season 3.

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If you’re a fan of graphic novels and comics, Dexter Early Cuts is fascinating. The iconic character and the actor who voices him are the way in. The animation is the reason to stay. The style hides the flaws that would exist if the short episodes were the usual live-action sameness. The attention-getting animation is as much of a reason to watch as the stories told. 15 years ago, it was a stylistic way to keep Dexter alive in the imagination of viewers between seasons. It worked well enough two decades ago. Today, Dexter Early Cuts is an even better watch because we’ve since gone back to the origins of Dexter Morgan, and with renewed interest due to Dexter: Resurrection, the mini-episodes are more effective, whether it’s for a rewatch or the very first time you’ve seen it.

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