Peter Dinklage’s 2024 western crime thriller, The Thicket, has secured a spot on the Netflix Top 10 lists just days after its streaming debut. Following its addition to the platform on September 30, 2026, the film reached the trending charts within 48 hours, signaling a renewed interest in the Game of Thrones veteran’s gritty leading roles.
In The Thicket, Dinklage portrays Reginald Jones, a short-statured but formidable bounty hunter operating in a brutal, snow-dusted version of East Texas at the turn of the 20th century. Jones is hired by a young man, Jack Parker (played by Levon Hawke), to track down a violent gang led by the ruthless “Cut Throat Bill,” portrayed by Juliette Lewis. The film distinguishes itself from traditional desert-based westerns through its harsh, wintry aesthetic and a focus on the grim realities of the era’s criminal underworld.
The sudden surge in viewership for the 2024 film coincides with the high-profile marketing cycle for the upcoming return of the Dexter franchise. Dinklage recently concluded a major television arc as the billionaire antagonist Leon Prater in the first season of Dexter: Resurrection. While his character met a definitive end—often referred to by fans as his “table death”—his performance in the revival series has kept the actor at the forefront of the crime and thriller genres throughout 2025 and 2026.
For viewers using The Thicket as a bridge to the next chapter of the “Dexter-verse,” the wait for new episodes is nearly over. Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 is scheduled to premiere on October 30, 2026, on Paramount+. The new season will shift focus away from Dinklage’s Prater to introduce a new pair of primary antagonists filling the power vacuum left by the previous season’s finale.
New Villains for the Dexter Franchise
As The Thicket continues to trend on Netflix, the production for Dexter: Resurrection has confirmed that Brian Cox and Dan Stevens have joined the cast as series regulars for the second season. They are set to portray the central threats facing Michael C. Hall’s title character this Halloween season.
Cox is slated to play Don Framt, a character described as “The New York Ripper,” while Stevens will portray Owen Stark, known as “The Five Borough Killer.” This casting shift confirms that Dinklage will not be returning to the series via flashbacks, as some early production rumors suggested. Instead, the focus remains on the “Dinklage effect” currently driving The Thicket toward the top of the streaming charts, cementing his status as a reliable draw for mature, atmospheric thrillers.
