It’s no secret that “Dexter” fans were very unhappy with the ending of the long-running Showtime series. After eight seasons, the series finale was less than “killer.” But is the network to blame for the finale bomb?

According to “Dexter” producer John Goldwyn … yes!

In an interview with Vulture, Goldwyn divulged that they were told not to let Dexter die.

Fans will remember that the show concluded with Dexter taking Deb’s body out to sea to bury her and seemingly dying when a storm passes through.

“I destroy everyone I love,” the serial killer voices over. “I can’t let that happen to Hannah and Harrison. I have to protect them from me.”

But Dexter didn’t die. Instead the final moments of the episode showed Dexter alone in the woods, working as a lumberjack.

“They won’t let us kill him,” Goldwyn explained. “Showtime was very clear about that. When we told them the arc for the last season, they just said, ‘Just to be clear, he’s going to live.’”

The producer continued that it was a “very interesting problem to solve” and that they discussed a lot of different endings for the series.

One of the alternative endings that did surface came from original “Dexter” showrunner Clyde Phillips. He dished to E! Online that if he would have worked on the ending of the show it would have concluded with Dexter dying.

“I can tell you that this is what I personally would have done should I have stayed with the show,” Phillips explained. “I chose not to stay with the show, and so everybody did what they did, and I have no problem with that … and I think they did a good job with the final episode. But here is what I personally would have pitched.”

Phillips, who is now an executive producer for “Nurse Jackie,” revealed that he would have liked the last scene to end with Dexter waking up.

“And everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, it was a dream.’ And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, ‘No, it’s not a dream,” he continued. “Dexter’s opening his eyes and he’s on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.”

Phillips explained that the gallery would be full of all the people that Dexter killed over the seasons – the Trinity Killer, the Ice Truck Killer, LaGuerta, Rita, Doake and more.

“That’s what I envisioned for the ending of ‘Dexter,’” the original showrunner revealed to E! Online. “I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion.”

Do you think Showtime was right in not killing Dexter? Or would you have liked to see Phillips' ending of “Dexter” play out on screen? Let us know in the comments section.

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