The revival of Dexter with its upcoming ninth season on Showtime has sparked renewed interest in the title character, Dexter Morgan. As a serial killer who took down other killers, Dexter’s life was rarely without adventure and consequence, as he faced villains like The Trinity Killer and the Brain Surgeon, among others.
What’s interesting is to peel away the layers behind his characterization to reveal facts about Dexter’s life and personality that humanizes even this serial killer. Both fans and potential viewers have a number of questions relating to Dexter’s time in the series and his appearances in other media, and it’s worth finding out answers before the revival airs in Fall 2021.
10 Where Did The Character Originate?
Dexter tasted widespread success after the TV series took off in popularity, although Dexter Morgan was never an original TV character. He was created by author Jeff Lindsay, who has written eight novels depicting Dexter’s story.
In fact, Dexter the novel series began in 2004 with Darkly Dreaming Dexter, two years before the TV show debuted, and ended in 2015 with Dexter Is Dead, which was two years after the TV show had ended. Of course, the character’s storylines largely veered into their own material in the series eventually and didn’t adapt entirely from the books.
9 Who Are His Love Interests?
Dexter claimed he didn’t understand how attraction and love worked, yet he had a number of love interests during his time on the show. Of his romances, the most significant were Rita Bennett, Hannah McKay, and Lumen Pierce, with Dexter having flings with former classmate Trisha Billings, store cashier Laci, and an affair with the murderous Lila West.
Rita was the woman whom he ended up marrying and he became a widower when she was killed by the Trinity Killer. Lumen was his next great love, but she left Dexter when she couldn’t accept his dark passenger, while Hannah was his last romance whom he had to let go to keep her safe.
8 What Is His Dark Passenger?
Dexter credited the terrible ordeal of being trapped in a container as a child while his mother was murdered as bringing on his dark passenger. He believed his need to kill stemmed from this and he couldn’t control it even if he wanted to.
However, Hannah made Dexter realize that the dark passenger may never have existed and that he killed people simply because he wanted to. By the end of the show, Dexter feels that the dark passenger was only there because he felt he had no other purpose, and his love for Hannah had changed him enough to overcome this aspect.
7 Who Are In His Immediate Family?
Dexter had deliberately started dating Rita to carve out a sympathetic cover for himself by appearing to be normal. However, he eventually came to love her for real, along with his stepchildren, Astor and Cody. Rita later gave birth to Dexter’s biological son, Harrison.
Dexter’s biological father was Joe Driscoll and his mother was Laura Morgan, and he was later adopted by Officer Harry Morgan and his wife Doris. His biological older brother was Brian Moser, with his adoptive sister being Debra Morgan.
6 When Was He Born?
Dexter’s age was revealed twice in the TV series through his driver’s license and Dr. Vogel’s notes, showing that he was born on February 1, 1971. With the TV series beginning in 2006, it made Dexter 35-years-old when he first appeared onscreen.
When Dexter was 16-years-old, his adoptive mother passed from cancer and he was 20-years-old when Harry died by suicide. By the end of the show’s run, set in 2012, Dexter was 41-years-old, while he’s set to be pushing 50 when the revival arrivers.
5 What Is His M.O.?
There’s no doubt that Dexter was extremely smart, as he managed to evade arrest for more than two decades before going into hiding by choice. His M.O. involved capturing people he confirmed had killed others by injecting them with a sedative, before taking them to his kill room.
This room would be covered all-around with plastic sheets, intended to look like the inside of a plastic bag. Originally, Dexter would slice his victims’ cheeks to extract a drop of blood to save on blood slides, show them the pictures of their victims, and then kill them. Finally, Dexter took the pieces of their bodies to the sea where he would dump them to hide all evidence.
4 How Critically Acclaimed Is The Character?
The success of Dexter has come down to the universally acclaimed reception of the title character, along with his portrayal. Michael C. Hall has been nominated for a number of prestigious awards for leading actor, and winning a significant few.
As it is, Dexter Morgan’s portrayal fetched Hall nominations for Outstanding Leader Actor in a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmys from 2008 to 2012, along with nominations for the SAG Outstanding Male Actor Performance from 2007 to 2012, winning in 2010. Hall’s biggest win came at the 2010 Golden Globes in the lead actor category when Dexter had just concluded its fifth season.
3 What Kinds Of Media Has He Appeared In?
Dexter isn’t restricted just to television screens, as he can be found in the eight novels written by Jeff Lindsay. In addition to the TV series and books, Dexter has also appeared in animated media that was created by Showtime to provide the character’s backstory.
This web series was titled Dexter: Early Cuts and was a prequel about Dexter’s early life. Dexter Morgan can also be found in print, with Marvel Comics releasing a five-comic issue in 2013 known as Dexter: Down Under.
2 Which Aliases Has He Used?
Dexter’s activities involved a lot of recon on his would-be victims, and he took to creating aliases to meet these targets and gauge their personalities. Within the series, Dexter used the names Patrick Bateman, Dave Cutler, Dan, Sean Ellis, Steve Gaskell, Darrel Tucker, Arthur Curry, and Kyle Butler.
In the revival, he will be shown having disposed of his Dexter Morgan identity and going by the name of Jim Lindsay. Overall, Dexter has had nearly dozens of names that he’s gone by, with his serial killer title termed as the Bay Harbor Butcher by the FBI.
1 What Is His Kill Count?
To say that there’s blood on Dexter’s hands is a gross understatement, as he’s responsible for killing at least 150 people. Dexter’s first kill was at the age of 20, when he took the life of Nurse Mary for killing her own patients.
He began taking blood slides from his eighth kill in Alex Timmons and did so until finishing Travis Marshall, by which point he’d collected over a hundred blood slides. His final kill overall in the original series run was his own sister when he took Debra off life support as a mercy kill.
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June 21, 2021 at 12:00AM
