• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 9 hours ago

Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, the Muppets, Ron Burgundy and the “Home Alone” kid all went to New York, so why not Dexter?

That’s what’s in store in “Dexter: Resurrection,” the new spinoff of the original “Dexter” that started streaming on Paramount+ over the weekend.

The new show takes up the “Dexter” story right where the last spinoff series -- “Dexter: New Blood” -- left off in 2022, which is something of a miracle because Dexter had just been shot in the chest from about two feet away with a high-powered rifle and presumed dead.

But like a character from a daytime soap, Dexter rises from near death in Episode One of “Dexter: Resurrection,” hence the show’s title.

At the conclusion of the first episode of the new show, Dexter (played, of course, by Michael C. Hall, photo above) arrives in Manhattan after prematurely checking himself out of a hospital on an Indian reservation in upstate New York. 

His New York destination is the real-life Empire Hotel on West 63rd Street and Broadway, where parts of the new “Dexter” series were apparently filmed.

Dexter Morgan is not in New York to see a show. He is there to reconnect with his estranged son Harrison (Jack Alcott), who is the very individual who shot Dexter in “New Blood” in a case of attempted patricide.

Dexter has only recently gotten wind of the possibility that Harrison has murdered someone in the hotel, which is where Harrison happens to work as a bellman. Like father, like son.

The Dexter character was first introduced to the world by Showtime in 2006 in an era when TV was chock-a-block with bad people we should not have rooted for, but we did anyway.

Among the more prominent and memorable of these antiheroes were Tony Soprano of “The Sopranos” and Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) in “The Shield.” 

Dexter was the creation of novelist Jeff Lindsay. The character was (and still is) a serial killer whose only victims were other serial killers. 

Thus, we were supposed to excuse Dexter’s own odious killer instincts because he was using them to rid the world of others like him.

In this regard, it was a troubling situation, but the show emerged anyway as one of the best drama series of its time, thanks in large part to the man who played him, Michael C. Hall, and now continues to play him at age 54.

Various characters from Dexter’s past -- characters who “Dexter” fans know well -- recur in the new series.

Some are figments of Dexter’s delirium while he is in a coma following the near-fatal shooting, including serial killer Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow), Sgt. James Doakes (Erik King) from the Miami police force where Dexter once worked, and Dexter’s late father, Harry (James Remar).

Det. Angel Batista (David Zayas) also recurs. He shows up at the reservation hospital and drops hints that he is now coming to believe that his friend Dexter may be a Miami serial killer from the original series who remains at large. Of course, we all know the detective is correct.

The showrunner on the new “Dexter: Resurrection” is Clyde Phillips, who has guided the journey of Dexter Morgan since the beginning.

This continuation of “Dexter” has also drawn a lineup of A-list actors in guest roles and recurring ones. 

Uma Thurman is introduced near the conclusion of Episode One of “Dexter: Resurrection.” And coming later are Peter Dinklage, Eric Stonestreet, Neil Patrick Harris, Krysten Ritter, Steve Schirripa and Jimmy Smits. 

“Dexter: Resurrection” is now streaming on Paramount+ and airing Sundays at 8 p.m. on Showtime.