After completing a new deal with “Dexter” star Michael C. Hall, Showtime announced that it had renewed its biggest hit for two more seasons beyond the current Season 6, meaning that foul-mouthed police investigator Deb may actually learn that her brother is a serial killer by Season 8. Showtime president David Nevins told Deadline, “I’m not going to say with absolute certainty that this is the end, but that is the likely scenario, that the series is moving towards a definite end.”

The move makes sense, as more people are watching “Dexter” than ever before — but longtime fans have gotten tired of the show’s creative rut. Alan Sepinwall says:

I stopped watching this season about a month ago, having found this season’s religious themes and stories to be so over-the-top and clumsy that even Hall’s performance wasn’t enough to keep me around… I think the show has overstayed its welcome – at least in its current format. If they shake things up – have Deb find out about Dexter’s night job, have Dexter go on the run, anything but the repetition of the same formula they’ve been using for years – I might be interested again, but the show is too successful for that.

This only confirms my theory that “Dexter” is the best show on television to consistently infuriate its fans. Everything on the show just seems to go in circles. Dexter almost gets caught, he doesn’t get caught, he kills the big bad guy, Michael C. Hall sleeps with a female co-star… it’s just too repetitive for my tastes.

The trailer for the new season of “Dexter” was unveiled at Comic-Con yesterday, and for fans of the show who were disappointed with Season 5, this should help restore your faith in the show. Religion seems to be a central tenet of the coming season, as the trailer opens with a discussion about god complexes and a Jesus tattoo before Dexter smashes a victim’s head with a hammer and kicks off a rousing series of images (murder, blowjobs, Mos Def, etc.) set to “Personal Jesus.”

I’ve never gotten into “Dexter,” but I have to admit that this is a really good trailer. If I’d been one of the geeks witnessing this at Comic-Con, I definitely would have put down my bag of potato chips to clap for it.

The first trailer and promo for Season 5 of “Dexter” were disappointing at best, but they look nuanced and subtle compared to this new promo. This is clearly targeted to people who need metaphors explained to them, because Michael C. Hall’s narration carefully walks morons through the symbolism. Let’s break it down:

• Dexter stands in a room that is turning upside-down. “My carefully constructed world has been turned upside-down.”
• Fallen items create a mess. “Everything is a mess.”
• Dexter holds up a garbage bag of broken items. “I’ve always been good at picking up the pieces.”

DERP. He walks under a ladder while a black cat crosses his path. “My luck may be running out.”

On the plus side, it uses “Lux Aeterna” from Requiem for a Dream, so it automatically sounds awesome and dramatic. And Miss Shanley gives the script for the promo an A+ in third-grade English. “Solid grasp of metaphors,” she writes in the report card.

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Here’s the new trailer for Season 5 of Showtime’s “Dexter,” which premiered at Comic-Con this weekend. I know a lot of people love this show, especially after John Lithgow’s greatness as the Trinity Killer last season, but all I got out of this trailer was melodrama and bad child actors.

If that doesn’t slake your thirst for good-hearted serial killers, below is another new promo for the coming season (which debuts September 26th). Again, I don’t want to take anything away from a quality show, but the promo makes “Dexter” look like melodramatic crap. What the hell is that song? It’s like they borrowed it from a “Grey’s Anatomy” montage.

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“Dexter” star Michael C. Hall is fully recovered from his bout of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to his wife. Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Dexter’s sister (gross!) on the Showtime series, said that Hall has returned to work, if you can call acting “work.”

Carpenter said Friday that Hall was “incredibly brave” when he announced in January that he was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes.

The 38-year-old Hall went into remission and continued treatment at a health facility near Los Angeles. [AP]

That’s certainly good news for Hall and everyone who enjoys “Dexter.” It’s bad news for people who are sensitive about cancer jokes, though, because I have a tendency to make fun of how bad lymphoma is at killing people. It’s the minor leagues of cancer. Then someone always gets upset — “My mom died of lymphoma, jerk!” — as if it’s my fault his mother had lousy white blood cells. Excuuuuuuse me.