‘Dexter: New Blood’ — 3 Challenges Made This the Most Difficult Production of Clyde Phillips’ Career
Bringing Dexter back was no easy task. However, original showrunner Clyde Phillips delivered Dexter: New Blood in 2021. The Showtime revival series proved to be the most difficult in Phillips’ storied TV career, which includes Nurse Jackie and Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.
Phillips appeared on the Nov. 5 episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast. He detailed the 3 elements that made Dexter: New Blood his most challenging shoot. The season finale of Dexter: New Blood airs Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
‘Dexter: New Blood’ had to cope with mud in the great outdoors
Since Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) moved to Iron Lake, New York, Dexter: New Blood filmed in wintery Massachusetts. That gave them snow in January and February, but by March it had already melted.
“Thank you global warming, we had a hot spell in March and we had 100 acres of snow that all melted,” Phillips said on TV’s Top Five. “The lake melted and we’re knee deep in mud. Our crews are building roads at this abandoned summer camp we were shooting at, building roads so we could get from here to there because it was all like World War I mud trenches. It was the most difficult and the most satisfying shoot I’ve done.”
Snow and rain challenged ‘Dexter: New Blood’ too
Dexter’s cabin was not a pre-existing location. The Dexter: New Blood crew constructed it during the Massachusetts winter.
“The cabin that you see that’s on the frozen lake, we built that cabin,” Phillips said. “A year ago now there were cabin builders out there in zero degree weather working for three months to build that cabin. Then we reproduced it on stage, the interiors on stage.”
That cabin did provide Dexter: New Blood some relief from the other elements. If it rained, as it did, they could film scenes that took place inside the cabin.
“Although we did shoot some of the interiors inside the cabin if it was raining or snowing too hard,” Phillips said. “We would change our shooting schedule and go inside and use that. We had that set duplicated as an emergency.”
Snow and cold still beats the Miami heat
Phillips produced four seasons of Dexter and the original series went for four more after he left. The showrunner recalled the challenges of filming in the Miami, Florida heat.
“Shooting in Miami, first of all, it’s so hot and so sweaty and so specific,” Phillips said. “In the summertime, it’s like you get off the airplane and you’re in Vietnam. It was just brutal but beautiful and pastels and all of that. So we changed the whole color palette of the show, we changed the whole wardrobe of the show, we changed the whole look of the show.”
Dexter: New Blood didn’t totally escape the heat though. They were still filming in New England during the summer.
“We’re adding snow to various places all the time,” Phillips said. “In fact, when we were shooting the scene where Harrison shows up in Dexter’s house, his cabin, we shot that in February. What we’ll call the bus station scene, we shot that July 28th. It was 84 degrees. The crew and all of us are standing behind the camera in shorts and T-shirts. Poor actors had to wear overcoats and mufflers and boots and hats and gloves and scarves. That was the journey that we had to take.”
