Following the shocking news that Paramount+ was not moving forward with the already-announced second season of Dexter: Original Sin, the prequel series to Dexter, creator Clyde Phillips is finally revealing how he felt about having the show canned after it was renewed.

Speaking on the Dissecting Dexter Podcast, Phillips said he was “flattered and proud” that a fan petition to save the show was nearing 100,000 signatures but cast doubt on its eventual success: “I don’t think Paramount is going to change their mind,” he said.

He then remembered when he learned of the news that Original Sin Season 2 was no longer happening, at the same time that Dexter: Resurrection was renewed.

“It was a tough phone that I got that night. They had already picked up the show, and I had informed all of the writers and informed all of the actors. And then un-picked it up. They created their own word. They un-picked it up, while picking up Resurrection, which was no surprise. And it wasn’t handled well, and I’m not happy about it,” he explained.

Phillips pointed to the tenure of executive Chris McCarthy at Paramount as the reason for the continued expansion of the Dexter universe — “He wanted me to be his new Taylor Sheridan,” Phillips explained — and said that when McCarthy was “pushed out,” the focus narrowed to just the Michael C. Hall-led Dexter spinoff.

He then revealed what he was planning to achieve with Dexter: Original Sin and another spinoff, Trinity, which would’ve focused on the Trinity Killer a.k.a. Arthur Miller (portrayed by John Lithgow in the original series).

“We plotted out a couple of years of this and looking forward to introducing new characters, like [James] Doakes — imagine Doakes at 25 or 30 years old — and Captain Matthews,” he explained, referring to the beloved original Dexter characters played by Erik King and Geoff Pierson, respectively. “And also watching Dexter’s evolution and Harry’s evolution. If you remember them in the pilot to Original Sin, which I wrote, the swimming pool scene. That was news. Nobody knew that. It was just something I came up with. And it defined Harry, and we wanted to continue that definition and continue developing the characters and developing Dexter, played by Patrick Gibson — played extraordinarily well by Patrick Gibson, I thought.”

About Trinity, Phillips explained, “After New Blood, Showtime picked up Harrison’s story, and we wrote 10 scripts of Harrison’s [journey], which is completely different than where he ended up because Dexter wasn’t involved. And then they picked up Trinity scripts, we wrote 10 scripts of Trinity… I was in L.A. for over a year with my writers. I saw my wife four times last year… and then the merger happened, and Paramount had other plans. And you know what? It’s their show, it’s their money, and they can do what they want.”

As for the status of Trinity now, as Resurrection remains the only Dexter show still on, he  guessed, “It’s backburnered, and I honestly don’t think they’re going to go for it. I just think they’re interested in Resurrection. I mean, if they killed Original Sin, which is a built-in hit, how are they going to pick up Trinity. If they do, I’d be delighted, but I don’t see them doing it.”

Dexter: Original Sin, Paramount+