When Dexter and his son Harrison reunited in New Blood, there were a few loose ends the revival needed to answer. How did Dexter get to New York? Where's Hannah? And what happened to Harrison's hair? The former two have been answered (he moved, and dead), but Dexter's son's blonde hair is no more and there's been zero explanation. Come to think of it, Dexter's got darker hair now, too. So what gives? Are their Dark Passengers so Dark that it influenced their hair color?
Plenty of kids go from being blondes to growing up as brunettes. It's science or something. (In fact, it's eumelanin.) So that's perhaps the most realistic answer for the hair color that teenage Harrison actor Jack Alcott is rocking in New Blood. But that's boring! And since Michael C. Hall's hair is also darker than when he originally played Dexter, I've decided to channel the best detectives of Miami PD or Iron Lake PD (which is to say, not very good) and investigate what has caused this color change.
Miami Dexter
Dexter wouldn't be categorized as a blonde. But when he lived in Miami, he did have some lightness to his brown hair that resulted in a red tinge. In the right light, you could even call it strawberry blonde.
Miami Dexter With Lumen
Perhaps trading in his blonde ball and chain Rita for blonde barrel girl Lumen gave Dexter a new lease on his hair life. Because in Season 5, immediately after Rita died, Dexter apparently found the time to go to the salon for highlights (or at in minimum, use Sun-In). He went back to his standard color after Season 5, but I'd argue the serial killer was light enough then to be considered blonde. What can I say, blondes just have more fun after they let their wives be murdered in a bathtub!
Dream Dexter
Dexter dreams of what his future could be in Season 7 now that he's found love with Hannah. In his dream vision, where Harrison is 17, Dexter has gray hair. Interesting that when the show actually jumps to years in the future, there's nary a gray hair to be found.
Pacific Northwest Dexter
In the Dexter series finale, Dexter has his regular hair color but adds a scruffy light brown-reddish beard... obviously to highlight that's he's a lumberjack now.
Iron Lake Dexter
Dexter in New Blood is back to his old ways, but he's still rocking the Jim persona hair of a darker brown than he ever had in Miami. Is this like when a person goes deep undercover with only a bad wig?
Miami Harrison
No matter what child actor was playing him, Harrison was always a blonde when living in Miami. He stayed that way when he moved to Argentina in the series finale.
Dream Harrison
When Dexter dreamed of his future in Season 7, he also pictured a teenage Harrison as a blonde. But dreams aren't reality, baby.
Iron Lake Harrison
Somewhere from Miami to Argentina and back again to track his father down, Harrison became a brunette. And not even a Miami Dexter brunette that changes in certain lights. Whether he's breaking a kid's arm on the wrestling mat or standing in the woods, Harrison has fully converted to brown hair.
Besides melanin, a lack of attention to detail, actor changes, or a bad hair colorist, the explanation that fits the best for Harrison and Dexter's makeover is their new locale. The dark, icy cold of upstate New York versus the warm, sunny skies of Miami is the biggest change from the original Dexter to the New Blood revival. So their hair fits the setting... even if it doesn't fit their original characters.
Call me Deb, cause I've cracked this case. And now with this mystery is solved, the only question New Blood still needs to answer is: Where the hell are Cody and Astor? Because clearly, this backstory detail is more important than Angela solving all those serial killer cold cases.
Images: Randy Tepper/Showtime (3), Dana Starbard/Showtime, Showtime (7), Seacia Pavao/Showtime (2)