There's a morbid symmetry to how the "Dexter" franchise limps along as its parent company, too, becomes a shell of its former self. Showtime, once a premium cable competitor to HBO, now lives on largely as a sub-brand of a streaming service while Paramount Global grovels before the Trump administration to complete its own sale.

The “Dexter” universe expands this week with the arrival of another spinoff.

Dexter faces down his even bigger past in the form of an old friend shaping up to be a new foe: Angel Batista, the fedora-hatted Miami cop played across the decades by David Zayas.