New ‘Dexter’ Sequel Starring Michael C. Hall Announced at Comic-Con 

Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
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New ‘Dexter’ Sequel Starring Michael C. Hall Announced at Comic-Con 

Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Molly Brown, from left, Patrick Gibson, and Michael C. Hall attend a panel for "Dexter: Original Sin" during Comic-Con International on Friday, July 26, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)

The “Dexter” universe is expanding, with everyone’s favorite serial killer coming back from the dead.

At San Diego Comic-Con, the “Dexter” team, led by showrunner Clyde Phillips, announced that audiences would see more of the character in “Dexter: Resurrection,” a new sequel series from Showtime. It will pick up where fellow franchise sequel “Dexter: New Blood” left off with its main character dead, prompting many fans to believe any future sequels would be impossible.

Michael C. Hall, who started playing the titular character in 2006, will reprise his role. He made a surprise appearance at the Comic-Con panel, shocking fans even before they heard the news of the new series. Phillips didn’t disclose too many details, but somehow, the “Resurrection” will revive its lead.

The announcement came during the promotion of “Dexter: Original Sin,” a prequel series that explores the character as a younger man, played by Patrick Gibson.

“This weekend there were a lot of surprises,” Gibson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They set up the characters in season one to have such rich inner life and so much complexity that even with eight seasons, there’s so much more to explore.”

At the panel, the creatives behind the franchise also announced that Hall is the narrator of the “Original Sin” series, where he will divulge the inner thoughts of young Dexter. The prequel series is set to release in December 2024 and “Dexter: Resurrection” will start filming in January for a summer 2025 release.

Fans at the packed venue Friday exploded with cheers when the panel made the surprise announcement.

“Original Sin” also stars Christian Slater, who said he was “obsessed” with the original series and was looking forward to exploring more of the story that the previous series didn’t get to examine.

“To see Dexter becoming Dexter — it’s really cool to see how Clyde Phillips has handled that and the writing is just so good and so rich, it’s fun to do,” Slater told The Associated Press.

“Dexter” premiered in 2006 and ran for eight seasons, earning Hall five drama actor Emmy nominations. It quickly became one of Showtime’s most successful series and gained a cult-like following.



Robert Downey Jr. Returns to ‘Avengers’ Films as Villain in 1 of Marvel's Comic-Con Twists

Robert Downey Jr. attends a panel for Marvel Studios during Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in San Diego. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Robert Downey Jr. attends a panel for Marvel Studios during Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in San Diego. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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Robert Downey Jr. Returns to ‘Avengers’ Films as Villain in 1 of Marvel's Comic-Con Twists

Robert Downey Jr. attends a panel for Marvel Studios during Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in San Diego. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Robert Downey Jr. attends a panel for Marvel Studios during Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in San Diego. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con with dancing Deadpool variants and a choir for a panel that included news about the next two “Avengers” films and surprise guests, including Harrison Ford and Robert Downey Jr.
Downey is returning to Marvel's films, but not as Iron Man. He'll play the villain Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom, in at least one of the upcoming “Avengers” movies. Downey kicked off Marvel's movie successes in “Iron Man” and played the popular character in nine films, but on Saturday appeared wearing Dr. Doom's mask and a green cloak.
“New mask, same task," Downey said to frenzied cheers, according to The Associated Press.
The Russo brothers, who will be directing the movie featuring Downey, said his appearance in the film is “proof of the unimaginable possibilities in the Marvel multi-universe.”
The reveal capped a jubilant return by Marvel to Comic-Con's Hall H.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige kicked off the panel by saying that due to this weekend's success of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe had now topped $30 billion in box-office earnings. In a nod to a scene in the movie, a choir sang Madonna's “Like a Prayer” before Feige spoke.
“Deadpool & Wolverine,” released Thursday, has already broken one record and could shatter more in its opening weekend. Feige used Saturday's panel to chart the course ahead for the MCU, revealing Ford's character in the next “Captain America” film and revealing “Avengers: Secret Wars and “Avengers: Doomsday” as the titles of the next two films in the epic superhero team-up series. “Doomsday” will hit theaters in 2026.
Feige said all the actors introduced Saturday would appear in the upcoming “Avengers” movies, which will be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The brothers guided the “Avengers” franchise through its sprawling storyline capped by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019 that included the death of Downey's Tony Stark/Iron Man character.
“When we directed ”Avengers: Endgame," Joe and I truly believed that it was the end of the road for us in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because we had put all of our passion, our love, our imagination into “The Winter Soldier,” into “Civil War,” into “Infinity War,” climaxing all of it with “Avengers: Endgame,” Anthony Russo said. “That four movie run was incredible and it left us creatively spent with all of our emotions on the film. In the time since, through a very special story, Joe and I have come to potentially see a road forward with you.”
They called “Secret Wars” the “biggest story that Marvel Comics ever told,” and Joe said it was the first comic book run he read as a child that made him “fall in love with comics.”
Saturday's session comes after Marvel skipped the convention last year due to the Hollywood strikes, which prevented writers and actors from speaking on panels.
The cast of “Captain America: Brave New World” — Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez and Anthony Mackie — joined the stage first and teased details about the upcoming film. Esposito revealed that he will be playing the villain, Seth Voelker, also known as Sidewinder.
When asked about what it was like to join a Marvel project, Esposito said it was a “dream come true.
“When your dreams come true and you get the call, you walk through the door,” he continued. “I have a great deal of gratitude for all the fans who really had this dream come true, because it was fan casting that linked us together.”
The cast then stepped aside to share a scene from the movie on the big screen, which revealed that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, played by Ford, is hoping to rebuild the Avengers with Mackie’s Sam Wilson. It also showed Ford’s character transform into the Red Hulk.
Ford joined the panel after fans were treated to clips from the movie and flexed his muscles to the roaring crowd. He also expressed excitement over his latest role, saying, “I am delighted, and proud to become a member of the Marvel Universe.”
The cast and director of “Thunderbolts(asterisk)” also surprised fans with a short clip from the movie. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour (in full costume and speaking in character as the Red Guardian at first) stormed the stage and shared some more details about their characters.
The film is slated to be released in May 2025.
The final film teased at the panel was “The Fantastic Four,” starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The movie will begin filming on Tuesday in London, Feige said.
He said the film will hit theaters in almost exactly one year in July 2025.
Following a video director Matt Shakman created specifically for Comic-Con that featured the cast in full ’60s glory, he and Feige revealed the official title of the film, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
The session included no mention of Jonathan Majors, who played the villain Kang the Conqueror and was previously a major part of Marvel’s “Avengers” plans. The actor was fired by the studio after he was convicted in December of assaulting a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to a yearlong counseling program in April and avoided jail time.
Marvel already took over Hall H on Thursday with an electric panel celebrating “Deadpool & Wolverine,” in which the audience was treated to a full screening and surprise guests joining stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on stage.
The mounting enthusiasm for the film at Comic-Con was reflected across the country as the fans rushed to see it in theaters, securing the film as the new record holder for the Thursday preview for an R-rated movie. The comic book film sold an estimated $38.5 million worth of movie tickets from preview screenings Thursday.
The “Deadpool & Wolverine” success woke up a sleepy year for Marvel and assuaged worries about its box-office underperformance in late 2023. The superhero factory hit a record low in November with the launch of “The Marvels,” which opened with just $47 million.