Dexter: Original Sin Retcons A Big Detail About Dexter Morgan's Serial Killer Trophies

WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 1!Dexter Morgan keeping trophies was an important part of his serial killing process in the original series, butDexter: Original Sinchanges the context of when he started taking them – and what he would keep. ThroughoutDexter’s original eight seasons, the titular vigilante killerkept trophies in the form of blood slides, which he had easy access to as a blood spatter analyst at Miami Metro PD. For every person Dexter killed, he would cut their cheek, take a drop of their blood, place it in a slide, and keep them stored in a box hidden behind his AC unit.

By the timeDexter’s original show begins, Dexter Morgan has already been killing for 15 years, so his modus operandi has been well-established. Meanwhile, the younger version of hischaracter inDexter: Original Sinis just getting started, with his messy first kill taking place in the premiere.Dexter’s process for his first kill is very different from how he eventually operates as the Bay Harbor Butcher, and even includes surprises that don’t align with the timeline and revelations Dexter himself gave in the original show, such as taking a trophy from Nurse Mary.

Nurse Mary (Tanya Clarke) tied up in plastic in Dexter: Original Sin

Dexter: Original Sin Reveals That Dexter DID Keep Trophies Before His Blood Slides

Dexter: Early Cuts Explained That He Didn’t Keep Trophies Until His Blood Slides

It was established in the original series that Dexter didn’t start keeping trophies until much later in his serial killing. As far as the original show indicates,Dexter only started keeping trophies, aka his blood slides, after killing Alex Timmons, which happened after he had already killed dozens of people. However,Dexter: Original Sinseason 1, episode 1reveals that Dexter kept a trophy for his very first kill: Nurse Mary’s gold earrings.

Dexter’s first box of blood slides ended up becoming evidence after he framed James Doakes for being the Bay Harbor Butcher inDexterseason 2.

Dexter’s original show implied that Dexter didn’t keep any type of trophies from his victims until getting the idea to take blood slides, sothe fact that he took Nurse Mary’s gold earrings comes as a surprise. Since Dexter’s blood slide box is precious to him, and is one of the biggest risks that he takes of potentially getting caught, it’s unlikely that he would have taken any trophies from his pre-blood slide victims and not kept them.

Dexter Morgan Doesn’t Start Keeping Blood Slides Until Several Years After Original Sin Season 1

Dexter First Takes A Blood Slide In 2003

InDexterseason 1, episode 6, Dexter took a look back through the early blood slides in his box, with Alex Timmons being the very first one. This kill was expanded on inShowtime’s web seriesDexter: Early Cuts, revealing Dexter was inspired to start taking blood slides from his victims after he cut Alex on the cheek.Michael C. Hall’s narration even confirms that Alex’s blood slide is Dexter’s very first trophy, further noting that Harry wouldn’t approve of him keeping it.

The webisode ofEarly Cutsreveals that Dexter killed Alex Timmons in October 2003, just three years beforeDexter’s original pilot and 12 years afterDexter: Original Sin’s timelinebegins in 1991. Therefore, over a decade passes of Dexter being a serial killer before he starts taking blood slides as trophies. ThoughDexter: Original Sinrevealing that he took Nurse Mary’s gold earrings already retcons his trophy backstory, it’s possible that he’ll stop taking trophies for the next decade after a close call with the earrings potentially being found.