When did Deb find out Dexter's secret? Details explored as Dexter: Original Sin deep dives into their backstory

Dexter: Original Sin takes the audience into the titular serial killer’s past. A prequel to Showtime’s Dexter, the mystery crime drama is set in the early 1990s and chronicles the journey of young Dexter Morgan, who joins the Miami Metro Police Department as a forensic intern and starts targeting dangerous individuals.

Meanwhile, the show also delves into his family life, focusing on his relationships with his adoptive father, Harry Morgan, and adoptive sister, Debra Morgan, aka Deb, who does not know about him being a serial killer yet.

This raises the question: when did Deb find out about Dexter? Well, Deb got to know Dexter's secret not in Dexter: Original Sin, but in the original series. In the Dexter season 6 finale, she walked in on Dexter stabbing Travis Marshall in a church.

Dexter: Original Sin: When did Deb find out about Dexter being a serial killer?

Debra Morgan finds out her adoptive brother Dexter’s dark secret several years after the events of Dexter: Original Sin. The revelation is shown at the end of Dexter season 6. All through the sixth season of the original series, Deb searches for The Doomsday Killer, Travis Marshall, and finally tracks him to a church.

However, as soon as she enters the church, she gets the shock of her life as she sees Dexter stabbing Travis in the chest. Seeing her brother commit murder right in front of her completely changes how she sees him.

The two then have a confrontation in Dexter season 7 episode 1. Deb pulls a gun out and demands answers from her brother. However, Dexter lies and says Travis was about to kill him, and he had to stab him in self-defense.

Even though Deb is shaken, she does not turn Dexter in. Instead, she agrees to help him cover up the murder by making it look like Travis killed himself. Together, they set the church on fire to destroy the evidence.

However, Deb is left struggling to understand who her brother really is and can not stop thinking about what she saw. She starts piecing things together, remembering all the times Dexter was strangely too close to murder cases.

Eventually, she finds his secret tools, and a box of blood slides, which he keeps as trophies from his victims. She then confronts Dexter, and he finally admits the truth about being a serial killer. However, Deb once again decides to protect Dexter.

She convinces herself that he is doing something good by getting rid of dangerous criminals. Over time, she helps him cover up more of his crimes. At one point, she even kills an innocent woman to keep Dexter’s secret safe. But her decision to murder someone begins to haunt her.

She later starts drinking and quits her job. Deb’s discovery of Dexter’s secret changes both of their lives. It drags Deb into her adoptive brother’s deadly world, which she is not able to escape.

On the other hand, the two share a different bond in Dexter: Original Sin. They are not as close in their younger days. Instead, Deb feels that her brother is a little weird due to his socially awkward behavior.

Dexter starred Michael C. Hall in the titular role, with Jennifer Carpenter as Debra. In Dexter: Original Sin, their younger versions are played by Patrick Gibson and Molly Brown, respectively. The prequel series also stars Christian Slater as Harry Morgan, Christina Milian as María, and James Martinez as Angel Batista.

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Dexter: Original Sin airs new episodes on Paramount+ with Showtime on Fridays.

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