Michael C. Hall addressed Dexter's series finale in a Reddit forum Friday.
The 43-year-old actor portrayed the title character for eight seasons on Showtime. The drama's final episode revealed the vigilante serial killer faked his own death and became a lumberjack after Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) is killed, and is considered by many to be one of the worst endings in television.
"Probably sadness," Hall said of his own initial reaction to the finale. "Thought... given what [Dexter had] been though, and his attempts to have his cake and eat it too in regards to indulging his compulsion to kill AND have a more authentic life, his self-imposed exile did resonate."
"I think Dexter came to believe that... anything he touched would eventually be destroyed and so he felt he needed to let it all go. Of course, Dexter is a pragmatist and a self-preservationalist so he didn't do himself in. But rather put himself on hold."
Dexter is based on Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series of novels, and premiered in 2006. Dexter satisfies his murderous urges by killing only other murderers and criminals, and Hall said the character's retreat from society most likely leaves him wanting.
"When we left him, he was... staring at the wall in a prison of his own making, and I think his self-imposed exile from the world continues," the actor conjectured. "Though I imagine he's got a pretty serious itch he's aching to scratch."
Dexter came to an end in 2013, and Hall has since appeared in Jim Mickle film Cold in July. He currently stars in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway, and is attached to a new series based on Stanley Kubrick script A God Fearing Man.