Michael C. Hall admits that Dexter "keeps pulling me back in"

Michael told Deadline: "Like, Al Pacino and the mafia. It just keeps pulling me back in, I think.

"When we finished the series proper and Dexter put himself into self-imposed exile, I knew we may well be revisiting him at some point to find out what the hell happened to him.

"When New Blood ended, I had a more definitive sense that it was the end, and I think the character did too. He thought that was a fatal gunshot."

Michael explained that he floated the idea of bringing his alter ego back to life with show bosses and became "compelled" by the potential for a return.

The Six Feet Under star recalled: "Some time passed, and I casually interjected in conversations with show creatives, like, 'What if he didn't die?' I mean, he didn't get shot in the head. It's possible that he could have survived that. And if he did, what would that look like? What storytelling possibilities would that afford us?

"The more I thought about it, and the more we talked about it, the more I was compelled.

"It was too tempting to resist. I was like, 'All right, let's roll the dice and bring him back to life. Let's do it.'"

Michael is delighted that the original characters of Arthur Mitchell/Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) and James Doakes (Erik King) all make a return in Dexter: Resurrection.

He said: "That it was pure joy for an OG fan is a big part of why I was so excited when I saw it. I was like, 'Oh, it's gonna resonate, and it shows just how rich the mythology of the show has grown to be.' It was amazing seeing those guys and doing scenes with them, so many years since we started. It was incredible."