Spoiler alert: Last night marked the end of the longtime Showtime series “Dexter.” After eight seasons of countless kills, multiple plot twists and thousands of fans holding their collective breath as they waited to learn the fate of the world’s most-beloved serial killer, all was finally revealed on Sunday.

The episode (“Remember the Monsters?”) included cliché bus station goodbyes, declarations of love and the usual gore, as well as a head-scratcher of a plot twist. While the show surprisingly had Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) kill off his own sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) by taking her off life support following a gunshot injury infliced by the season's “bad” serial killer Oliver Saxon, Dexter also said his final farewell -- at least audiences thought so. In the last few minutes of the finale, Dexter encounters a deadly hurricane while at sea on his famous “Slice of Life” boat after giving his sister a watery burial. Surprisingly and inexplicably, the last clip shows him alive and well, working as a, wait for it … tree logger.

Fans took to the Web in droves to slam the series finale, but two producers of the longtime drama series have spoken out to defend their choices. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producers Scott Buck and Sara Colleton confirmed the final scenes of last night’s series finale were planned years ago. “The kernel idea were the last few scenes. They were what I pitched a few years ago,” Buck said, explaining that Dexter ultimately escaped the hurricane-headed boat via a life raft. “Hopefully it’s not a question that will be examined too closely. The show has always been a half step away from reality; it’s a hyper-reality.”

Despite years of speculation that the final episode would include the demise of Dexter Morgan, Colleton said death would be too easy a fate for the natural-born killer. “Punishment is banishment. He sends himself into exile. Killing himself is too easy,” she said. “I knew he would be in a self-imposed prison that would be as far from Miami as possible. We’d find him working in some solitary environment where even if other people were around he would make no contact and not talk to anyone. We would follow him home and he would have no human contact.”

She also confirmed that Debra Morgan’s untimely death was a long time coming. "The main idea was Dexter is forced to kill Debra," Colleton said, adding, "There are many ways that could happen, but those final scenes were pretty much unchanged."

The producers also discussed their decision to bring back Dexter’s season 7 love interest, fellow serial killer Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski), only to once again separate her from Dexter and leave her to raise his biological son, Harrison, in Argentina. “It seemed like the ending that was most justified,” Buck said. “We wanted to believe Harrison would be happy and safe and well taken care of … Dexter believes she will lay her life on the line for Harrison.”

Now that fans know Dexter is alive and well, the idea of a possible spinoff series is once again circulating, which Colleton said is always a possibility. “It couldn’t happen without Michael C. Hall wanting to come back. And I think he’s enjoying this new part of his life,” she said. “Right now there’s nothing planned.”