One Of The Best Serial-Killer TV Shows Ever Made Lands On Netflix Today (2025)

One of the greatest serial-killer dramas of all time lands on Netflix today. If you like top-notch thrillers filled with suspense, great characters and plenty of gore and mystery, you’re going to want to check out Dexter.

Dexter aired from 2006 to 2013 on Showtime, and was a major hit thanks to its gripping combination of crime drama, psychological thriller, and dark comedy. The show is based on the novel "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay and follows the life of Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood-splatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department. The twist? Dexter leads a double life as a vigilante serial killer.

A sequel series—Dexter: New Blood, set ten years later—aired in late 2021 and early 2022, ending with a controversial finale that split fans. (While I was certainly aware of the problems with that show’s finale, I actually liked it overall, though I don’t blame fans who didn’t.) The spinoff series trades the vibrant, hot streets of Miami for the icy snow swept forests of upstate New York.

What Is Dexter About?

The series centers on Dexter Morgan, played by actor Michael C. Hall (who you might recognize from HBO’s Six Feet Under) in a career-defining role. Dexter’s insatiable drive to kill was formed in childhood when he witnessed the gruesome murder of his mother—a murder that haunts him years later, and will rear its ugly head in more ways than one as the series progresses.

Dexter was raised by his adoptive father, Harry Morgan, a police officer who taught Morgan to channel his violent impulses. He could tell that Dexter was going to become a killer, but he loved him too much to stop him. So he taught him a code: Only kill other serial killers. This becomes a guiding principle but unfortunately even the best laid plans of mice and serial killers often go astray.

Dexter works best when things go wrong. For all his meticulous planning, Dexter makes mistakes. Sometimes things are simply out of his control. Often, major characters he meets each season end up having dark secrets or other surprises up their sleeves. And while Dexter is certainly an antihero you want to root for, many of his choices end up hurting innocent people in the end.

What Other Characters Are In Dexter?

Dexter may center around Dexter Morgan’s character, but there’s a great cast of regular and guest stars who really make the show great.

Angel Batista (David Zayas) is a lovable detective with the Miami police and one of Dexter’s friends and co-workers. Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) is Dexter’s adoptive sister—also a police officer. In fact, most of Dexter’s closest friends and family are cops, which can be both a boon and a curse for the serial killer.

A long list of guest stars includes John Lithgow (in his most disturbing performance), Keith Carradine, Jonathan Banks and many more.

Breaking Bad Fans Should Watch Dexter

Dexter's duality is central to the show's narrative. By day, he is a meticulous and highly skilled forensic expert, helping to solve crimes for the police department. By night, he hunts down those he deems worthy of his brand of justice. This dichotomy raises questions about the nature of good and evil, as Dexter operates in a morally gray area. While his actions are undoubtedly criminal, his victims are often those who have committed heinous crimes themselves.

Like Breaking Bad, the show keeps you on the edge of your seat as you root for someone who is fundamentally a monster. Both Walter White and Dexter Morgan think that what they’re doing is right, and you root for them even though you know that what they’re doing is most certainly not. Dexter kills bad people because he’s compelled to kill, not because he’s a hero.

He’s cunning, meticulous and ruthless, but whether he has any good at his core—or if he’s just living by his father’s guiding principles as a survival mechanism—is the real question that follows Dexter throughout the series.

Two Warnings About Dexter

Dexter is a genuinely great series that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You might yell at your TV from time to time even, and now that it’s on Netflix you should absolutely check it out.

I will offer up two warnings, however: First, it can be very gruesome and hard to watch at times. If you’re into this kind of show that shouldn’t be an issue. Worse, however, is the fact that it does fall apart to some degree by the end. After a solid first season, the show gets even better for the next few seasons before taking a nosedive into ludicrous plotting and a bunch of strange choices from the writers. Still, even if you only watch the first five seasons you’ll have plenty to enjoy. (Season 7 is a return to form, between a tepid sixth season and an even worse final season, which is an unusual pattern for this kind of premium cable show).

I haven’t watched this show in years (other than the spinoff). I’m definitely going to go watch at least the first few seasons again.

Here’s the Season 1 trailer:

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