Back in 2006, “Dexter” found a way to get fans to root for a serial killer: have him kill other serial killers. Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has been contending with what he calls his “dark passenger” since he was a child — a bloodlust that would almost certainly escalate to killing. Rather than waiting for that to happen, his adoptive father Harry enforced a set of rules and rituals for Dexter to follow. The No. 1 rule is “Don’t get caught,” closely followed by “Never harm an innocent.”
At night, Dexter follows Harry’s code, but during the day, he follows the law of the land (read: the police). Yup, bloodthirsty Dexter is a forensic blood analyst for the Miami Police Department. But hey, they say if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. And Dexter really likes looking at blood.
A good decade after the end of the original series, “Dexter” produced a sequel series called “Dexter: New Blood” that centers on Dexter and his son. More recently, the prequel series “Dexter: Original Sin” launched on Paramount Plus — featuring some of the best prequel casting I’ve ever seen. The first season just ended, so you may be looking for more shows like "Dexter" and "Original Sin." Here's what we recommend.
'Hannibal'
What is it with fictional serial killers using their jobs to cover their murder sprees? In the case of Hannibal Lecter, his castle is a couch instead of a lab. Of course, Hannibal has been chomping down humans on-screen since the ‘90s — and with the name Hannibal, is it really surprising the dude became a cannibal?
For anyone who can stomach the whole cannibal thing (pun very much not intended), “Hannibal” is a prequel series based on the “Silence of the Lambs” movie franchise and Thomas Harris’ original novels. The cat-and-mouse setup is still going strong in the 2013 show, which only lasted three seasons despite having a passionate cult fanbase. FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is a little too empathetic toward killers and Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) tries a little too hard to bring him to the dark side. It’s a stalemate for a while — until it isn’t.
I’m someone who doesn’t typically empathize with deplorable villainous characters, but when it comes to sociopathic (human) killers, it’s a no from me in the "awww, he's just misunderstood" department. So while some people love Hannibal, I’m more in the camp of being fascinated by the psyche of it all. That’s why “Dexter” is such a fascinating thought experiment for me. He is a killer, but the morality of his arc is a grey abyss given that he only takes down people who will continue to hurt innocents in the future if he does nothing.
►Watch on Netflix
'Criminal Minds'
The 2005 series “Criminal Minds” may not center on one serial killer, but fans get a new one in almost every episode (enough to give you nightmares about just how many killers really roam the street at any given time). The procedural drama focuses on the BAU (Behavioral Analyst Unit) of the FBI as the team creates profiles to catch killers and hopefully save their latest victims.
Like “Dexter,” the show allows audiences to get into the minds of killers, parse out why they do what they do, explore the twisted nuances of their relationships, and dive deep into different diagnoses. Of course, we see this play out through the lens of the FBI team rather than the killers themselves, offering a different perspective with less of an unreliable narrator component.
►Watch on Paramount Plus
'Prodigal Son'
Most people who had rough childhoods will tell you that, at some point, all they could do was try to do everything in life the opposite of their parents. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In “Prodigal Son,” Malcolm Bright rejects the ways of his serial killer father to become a criminal psychologist for the NYPD to stop other killers. Given how many lives his father destroyed, he wants to give as many back as he can, all while stopping people like his dad.
Of course, there’s a more selfish component here where this kind of job can help someone like Malcolm try to make sense of not only his father’s proclivities but the ones that he’s starting to suspect he has himself. Like Dexter, the only person Malcolm really has in his life is his sister Ainsley (a TV journalist rather than a cop like Deb).
I love that “Prodigal Son” takes a different approach to a story like Dexter’s. In “Dexter,” Harry teaches his son the code long before his son ever kills anyone. There’s a lingering question posed throughout the series of whether or not Harry did more harm than good. Given Dexter’s extreme homicidal tendencies, it’s unlikely that he would have been able to go his whole life without acting on them (especially since we see the same thing happening with Dexter’s son in the sequel series).
►Watch on Max
'Bates Motel'
Ah, yes, another prequel for a classic horror staple. In the case of the 2013 series “Bates Motel,” we meet a teenaged Norman Bates and watch his creepy relationship with Mommy Dearest play out in real-time rather than her starring role as a rotting corpse. For anyone who needs a classic horror crash course, the character hails from the 1960 movie “Psycho," probably the most classic case of killer mommy issues we’ve ever seen on-screen.
Teen Norman isn’t any less creepy than his adult counterpart as he and his mother try to keep the run-down Bates Motel afloat. Like “Original Sin,” the show gives us a glimpse at the life of a young killer-to-be. In Dexter’s case, we see his burgeoning serial killer tendencies turn deadly in the first episode, but with Norman, we mostly just watch him take a creepy liking to taxidermy. Yet like all would-be killers, that doesn’t hold down his proclivities for long.
►Watch on Prime Video
'The Fall of the House of Usher'
Do I have my own creepy stalker-like obsession with Edgar Allan Poe? Yes. Should “The Fall of the House of Usher” still be on this list? Also yes. While the 2023 Netflix miniseries may not seem like the best fit at first glance, the twisted family dynamics ring true in both deadly shows.
There is a mystery (that binds us still) and an investigative component that will also appeal to “Dexter” fans. However, the exploration of bad decisions made by previous generations dooming the next ones stands out between the two. In “Dexter,” infidelity leads to murder, which results in Dexter being ‘born in blood’ as a toddler, which arguably causes Dexter’s affliction that he ropes his sister into, and later passes onto his son.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” has a similar-minded narrative with more than a few chaotic family dynamics and even more brutal death scenes that all stem from the selfish choices of two siblings. No one is technically a serial killer here, but they might as well be — especially given that the family business is a drug company that doesn’t care about body counts or people dying without insurance to make heavy profits. You don’t have to wrap someone in plastic to be a killer.
►Watch on Netflix
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