Idea for a follow up series

"which seems like too much of a copy of Silence of the Lambs"

Close. My inspiration for the setup is Manhunter, the first movie to introduce the character of Hannibal Lecter. In that movie though, Lector is secretly working WITH the serial killer at large in order to kill the cop. In my imagined series Dexter would be genuine in his efforts to help the FBI agent. Part of it is self preservation... as long as Dexter continues to be useful, he isn't executed. Beyond that he's intrigued and motivated to see if he can outthink serial killers the way he used to.

I'd do it as two seasons. The FBI agent is the more central character. As he chases and apprehends assorted serial killers and sees the extent of their depravity, the more he wonders if Dexter's Code isn't the more appropriate way to deal with these people. The first season would see him and Dexter often discuss the morality of Dexter's Code and the agent's growing doubt that legal means are an effective way to deal with this category of killer.

Is Dexter playing mind games with the agent? Does the agent turn rogue and start killing a la Dexter? I think a great ending for the first season would be the agent coming perilously close to taking things into his own hands when the killer goes after his family. In the end though it would be Dexter that talks him OUT OF executing the killer. Both men would appear to have achieved some measure of redemption. But the cliffhanger would be the reveal of the return of Harrison.

Season Two would be the agent tracking Harrison under Dexter's guidance, unaware that Dexter knows the killer is his son. Dexter's redemption at the end of S1 is threatened by this new turn of events when he decides to help Harrison evade capture without the agent knowing what he is up to. Initially Harrison would be completely unaware of Dexter's background involvement. The series would end with a firm conclusion with a scene that would callback to Season 1.

I wish there was a way to search the old IMDB boards.

After Breaking Bad ended, I came up with this entire followup series that focused on Jesse Pinkman. It was pretty elaborate... with a full cast of characters and conflicting motivations. It all came to me in a creative writing rush. I'd love to find that treatment again. Jesse reluctantly once more ends up in the criminal world -- not drugs but high end chop shops -- when he gets involved with the wrong girl. I deliberately set it in Florida, to subvert the expectation that he would end up in Alaska as we were led to believe from the show.

I'd love to find that again.

Someone on IMDB once wrote a detailed treatment for a Rocky movie. It was a sequel to Rocky IV and damn if he didn't describe the near exact plot to Creed. This post came out years before the movie was even a rumour. I often wonder if some Hollywood writer -- or Stallone himself -- stumbled across it and ran with it.

Whoever that contributor was, I hope he made a bit of money from it.

"He's dead. A fake death would not help this show."

Yeah, the show's producer has confirmed that Dexter is dead.

The ending we got was fine with me despite it being a bit rushed. The producer hasn't nixed the idea of a series that would follow Harrison, but I doubt I would watch it. I found the character and the actor too bland.