Few television shows have experienced the highs and lows of Dexter.
When the series premiered on Showtime in 2006, it introduced audiences to Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood-splatter analyst by day and serial killer by night. The catch: he follows a strict code taught to him by his adoptive father, Harry, that makes sure the only people he kills are people who truly deserve it.
It was a premise that made for one of the most compelling antiheroes in television history. However, over eight seasons, Dexter went from one of the most acclaimed dramas to a show whose finale because infamous for all the wrong reasons.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of Dexter Morgan. The franchise has since expanded, which has given the character a chance at redemption.
With the franchise celebrating its 20th anniversary and another season of the sequel series Resurrection on the horizon, we’re revisiting every season of the franchise to determine which deserves a place on the kill table.
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11. Dexter Season 8
Charlotte Rampling as Dr. Vogel and Michael C. Hall as Dexter in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
There was a time when you might have been able to call Dexter the best drama on television. But by its eighth (and, for a time, its final) season, that reputation was hanging by a thread.
The season introduced Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling), a psychiatrist who helped Harry develop the code. It was an intriguing idea that ultimately undermined much of what made Dexter’s relationship with his father so fascinating. As such, a show that has one of the best who’s who of antagonists ended up with a fairly lackluster one to finish things off.
That’s not to mention the atrocious finale. For a show that was all about seeing people who had done terrible things get their comeuppance, a fitting narrative to the whole thing would be for that to happen to Dexter himself.
And yet, the show seemed to want to shock you. By the end of the season, Debra has died, Dexter has abandoned Harrison and he heads off to become a lumberjack. For a show about death, it managed to deliver an ending that seemed completely lifeless.
Related: Actor Who Played a Beloved Sitcom Dad for 11 Seasons Returns to ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Season 2 in Surprising Role
10. Dexter Season 6
Colin Hanks as Travis Marshall in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
The seams were beginning to show by the time Dexter entered its sixth season. Playing with themes of religion and faith could have been compelling, but it never seemed like the show truly grasped what it was trying to say.
Dexter’s main opponent that season was the Doomsday Killers. They were responsible for some of the show’s most elaborate and disturbing murder scenes, boosted by the casting of Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks.
Unfortunately, the season frequently mistook shocking imagery for a compelling storyline. Dexter’s investigations into the men became repetitive, all while trying to add in the idea of Deb’s romantic feelings for her brother (adopted, but still). That story alone cements itself as one of the most questionable creative decisions the show ever made. The season’s saving grace is its finale, which delivers a well-performed and intriguing confrontation between brother and sister. It was a terrific cliffhanger, but the journey was not worth the wait.
9. Dexter Season 5
Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Julia Stiles as Lumen Pierce in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
How can you possibly follow one of the most shocking season finales in television history?
Season 5 faced an almost impossible task after the events of Season 4 (we’ll get to that). Rather than immediately return to business as usual, the show explored Dexter’s grief and guilt while introducing Lumen Pierce (Julia Stiles), a survivor seeking revenge against the men who assaulted her.
While I can’t argue that Stiles is anything less than a great actress, the show never really gives the audience enough time to sit with the consequences of Rita’s death. There’s an interesting story in Dexter confronting the fact that his actions devastate the people he loves, but introducing another love interest so quickly feels dismissive of Rita and the role she played in the series. Rather than forcing Dexter to reckon with what he’s lost, the show gives him someone new to protect, and eventually someone new to love. Lumen isn’t a bad character, but her relationship with Dexter feels like an opportunity to avoid the emotional fallout of Season 4 rather than explore it.
8. Dexter: New Blood
(L-R) Michael C. Hall as Dexter, Jennifer Carpenter as Deb, Jack Alcott as Harrison in ‘Dexter: New Blood’Courtesy of Showtime
After a disastrous ending to the original series, Dexter: New Blood gave the franchise a chance to make things right.
Things seemed okay at first; the revival visited Dexter after he had moved away and was living under the new identity of Jim Lindsay, all of which got upended when Harrison returned to his life. Setting the show in the wintry landscape of upstate New York also creates a stark contrast with the sunny disposition of Miami, and Clancy Brown playing the main villain is perfect casting.
For so much of the season, New Blood succeeds at recapturing the tension that made the original series so addictive, and feels like it could solve the problem of the show’s initial ending. While I think it gets the ideas right this time (Dexter should die), the execution of that idea left a lot to be desired.
The finale feels incredibly rushed, from Angela’s questionable detective work connecting Dexter to the Bay Harbor Butcher murders to Dexter suddenly murdering an innocent police officer to escape custody. Harrison’s decision to turn against his father feels equally abrupt, especially after spending so much of the season exploring his own violent tendencies. Perhaps most frustratingly, the show teases a long-awaited confrontation between Dexter and Batista, then abandons it entirely. All in all, it feels like another miss.
7. Dexter: Original Sin
(L-R) Patrick Gibson as Dexter and Christian Slater as Harry iin ‘Dexter: Original Sin’Courtesy of Paramount
A prequel about the early years of Dexter Morgan always seemed a bit questionable. After all, how much did we really need to know about a character whose origins were extensively mined in the original show?
To its credit, Dexter: Original Sin finds some worthwhile material in the relationship between a young Dexter (Patrick Gibson) and Harry (Christian Slater). Gibson does a phenomenal job capturing Michael C. Hall’s distinctive mannerisms without making it feel like an imitation, and Slater gives a worthy performance, too.
There’s some fun in seeing younger versions of the characters we know such as Debra, Batista and Masuka, but it all feels like a retread rather than a show finding a new story to tell. It doesn’t reinvent Dexter,and while there was some entertainment to be found in its one-season run, it ultimately seems like the right call for it to have been shelved.
6. Dexter Season 3
(L-R) Jimmy Smits as Miguel Prado and Michael C. Hall as Dexter in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
What happens when Dexter finds a friend?
That’s the question that drives the third season, which introduces Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), an assistant district attorney who develops an unlikely bond with Dexter after the death of his brother. Miguel initially seems like someone who might understand Dexter and his worldview. Their friendship gives the series an opportunity to explore whether Dexter can genuinely connect with another person, or whether his need for control and the risks he’s taking will prevent it.
Smits is utterly fantastic (he was nominated for an Emmy for his work), bringing charisma and unpredictability to a character whose moral corruption becomes increasingly apparent. His dynamic with Hall is easily the season’s strongest element. Unfortunately, the parallel storyline with the Skinner is fairly forgettable, and the season never reaches the highs that other ones are able to obtain. Nevertheless, Season 3 deserves credit for exploring Dexter’s humanity in a way that doesn’t depend on romantic relationships.
5. Dexter Season 7
(L-R) Yvonne Strahovski as Hannah and Michael C. Hall as Dexter in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Paramount
After a few uneven seasons, Dexter was in need of a shake-up to its familiar formula in order to recapture the magic of the show.
Season 7 delivers on the Debra cliffhanger from a year earlier, as she finally learns the true nature of her brother. Jennifer Carpenter gives one of her strongest performances as Deb struggles to reconcile her love for her brother with the horrifying truth of his double life. Dexter struggles with not being able to manipulate his way out of the problem, or perhaps more importantly, he can’t just kill the person. His actions have fundamentally damaged the person closest to him.
This season also introduces Isaak Sirko (Ray Stevenson), one of the franchise’s more compelling antagonists. His relationship with Dexter defies the more often straightforward revenge storylines we see on the show. Not everything works, but it’s pretty close. The divisive introduction of Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) is one that not all fans are fond of, but Season 7 generally restores the moral tension the show had been missing since Season 4.
Related: 20 Years Ago Today, This Showtime Series, Ranked Among the Best TV Shows of All Time, Premiered — And It Still Holds Up Today
4. Dexter: Resurrection Season 1
(L-R) Jack Alcott as Harrison and Michael C. Hall as Dexter in ‘Dexter: Resurrection’Courtesy of Paramount
It’s a true testament to Dexter: Resurrection that it works even after bringing its main character back from the dead again!
The show picks up after the events of New Blood, with Dexter surviving the gunshot wound from his son. He heads to New York City to find his kid. It’s an absurd premise that shouldn’t work, and yet here we are.
The move to New York breathes new life into the franchise and adds a cascade of characters that make the show feel like it’s having fun again. Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) as a billionaire obsessed with serial killers is a phenomenal casting and writing choice. The ensemble of killers are wonderfully strange. You get appearances from Krysten Ritter, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Stonestreet and David Dastmalchian all chewing the scenery in their own ways. That’s not even mentioning Uma Thurman as Prater’s mysterious associate.
Familiar problems remain, especially the show’s reluctance to hold Dexter accountable for his past. But Resurrection remembers something the later seasons occasionally forgot: watching Dexter navigate a world of dangerous people can be genuinely entertaining. Against considerable odds, the franchise feels alive again.
3. Dexter Season 2
(L-R) Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Erik King as Doakes in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
Surprise, motherf—ker!
It feels like nowadays, a show would hold off on having the main character’s world nearly fold in on itself this early. But Dexter took a bold swing at the beginning of its run. This season has Dexter as the unknown killer at the heart of his own department’s investigation. When dozens of bodies are discovered in the ocean, the authorities begin hunting the Bay Harbor Butcher, unaware the killer is working alongside them. It’s great stuff.
This decision raises the stakes of the show. Dexter has to navigate an increasingly dangerous investigation while avoiding the suspicion of his colleagues, most notably Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King), a man who has never trusted him. If I could critique the season for one thing, it’s losing Doakes so early in the show’s run. This season sings because of Doakes, and his confrontations with Dexter are electric.
But the time we had with him is exceptionally entertaining, giving a relentless series of complications while demonstrating how effective Dexter could be as a show. The season gives us so many of the best parts of the show: Dexter killing people who deserve it and trying to avoid getting caught doing it.
2. Dexter Season 1
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
It shouldn’t be all that surprising that the first season of Dexter works so well considering it’s pulled pretty directly from the source material (Darkly Dreaming Dexter). But not all book adaptations make for great TV.
Dexter Season 1 remains a masterclass in introducing an unconventional television protagonist. From its opening moments, the series tells us exactly what this show will be. We are invited into the mind of a serial killer who believes he is scratching the itches of his own urges by killing, but only those who deserve it.
But as the season unfolds and we learn more about the central antagonist, the Ice Truck Killer, it becomes even more than that. What initially seems like a cat-and-mouse game between two serial killers becomes something far more personal, forcing Dexter to confront his childhood trauma and the origins of his murderous urges. The revelation that the Ice Truck Killer is his biological brother, Brian Moser, gives Dexter someone who truly understands him, but also represents what he might have become without Harry’s intervention.
What makes this season so effective is how confidently it establishes the world around Dexter. Miami’s pop of color provides a wonderful contrast to the darkness of his actions, while the supporting cast, particularly Debra, Doakes and Rita, gives him relationships that constantly threaten to expose his secret. At the center of it all is Hall, whose performance makes a serial killer both deeply unsettling and strangely endearing. It’s an incredibly strong debut season that establishes nearly everything audiences would come to love about Dexter.
1. Dexter Season 4
John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer in ‘Dexter’Courtesy of Showtime
For all its compelling mysteries and unforgettable characters, Dexter has never been better than its fourth season.
The introduction of Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow), better known as the Trinity Killer, gives the series its greatest antagonist. On the surface, Arthur appears to be a devoted husband, father and respected member of his community. But beneath all that lies a terrifying serial killer whose crimes have gone undetected for decades.
Arthur is the series’ best antagonist because of his relationship with Dexter. Our antihero thinks he can learn something from him, but he doesn’t realize he’s getting too close to the fire. Even when we think Dexter has walked away unscathed, do we truly learn how misguided Dexter’s assumption was. For years, Dexter has justified the murders he’s committed through Harry’s code, convincing himself that by doing what he does, he’s actually protecting the innocent. But in one shocking, horrifying and brutal moment, he’s forced to confront the consequences of his own actions.
Twenty years after the series began, Dexter has delivered plenty of memorable twists. None has surpassed the fourth season’s perfect marriage of suspense, character development and tragedy.
Related: First Look at ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Season 2 Reveals a Major Change for Harrison
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