‘Dexter’ Turns 20: The Original Series’ Scariest Villains, Ranked
As we await Dexter: Resurrection’s second season later this month, we have an anniversary to commemorate: The original Dexter, the show that launched the Showtime franchise, premiered 20 years ago, on October 1, 2006.
You might think that the crime drama’s namesake character would top any ranking of the show’s scariest villains. But we’d put the Michael C. Hall character, a Miami Metro forensic technician who moonlights as a vigilante killer, squarely in the antihero category, especially in comparison to the baddies below. Here are Dexter villains who nearly had us sleepless on those Sunday nights, our pick for the scariest of the show’s foes, from bad to worst.
Dexter: Resurrection, Season 2 Premiere, Friday, October 30, Paramount+
7. Isaak Sirko (Ray Stevenson)
Isaak, a Ukrainian crime boss, gets a spot on this list not because was particularly sadistic — not relative to other Dexter villains, at least — but because he went about his nefarious business with an intimidating efficiency and unflappability. And he and Dexter found a certain kinship with each other. “We are outsiders, you and I,” Isaak told our title antihero. “Best we can hope for is to find a place where we don’t have to pretend.”
6. Jordan Chase (Jonny Lee Miller)
Have you ever noticed that scripted TV shows often expose motivational speakers as bad guys in disguise? Such was the case with this man, who turned out to be the leader of the sadistic Barrel Girl Gang. Jordan may have had his cronies do his dirty work, but he was the mastermind of horror visited upon women like Lumen Pierce (Julia Stiles). Unluckily for him, Lumen was partners in both love and crime with one Dexter Morgan.
5. Santos Jimenez (Tony Amendola)
The original sin in the original Dexter series was Santos killing Laura Moser (Katherine Kirkpatrick), Dexter’s biological mother, on orders of Santos’ drug-lord boss. Worse yet, Santos killed her by chainsaw in front of a young Dexter. Anyone who could do such a thing is no one we want to think about
4. George King (Jesse Borrego)
In Season 3, Dexter’s sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) investigated the serial killings done by a perpetuator known as The Skinner, so named because he skinned his victims alive. George apparently convinced himself he was torturing his victims to get the whereabouts of a criminal associate who owed him money, but Dexter knew the truth: George took pleasure in being so sadistic.
3. Brian Moser (Christian Camargo)
Apparently, Brian is what Dexter would have become had the protagonist not been raised under Harry Morgan’s guidance. Brian, Dexter’s biological brother, was also present for Laura’s murder. But Brian’s violent impulses went unchecked by a moral code, and so he became the Ice Truck Killer, leaving a trail of dismembered and bloodless victims in his wake.
2. Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingolfsson)
In Dexter’s final season, the vigilante faced off against a serial killer dubbed The Brain Surgeon for his penchant for removing his victims’ gray matter. Turns out, that antagonist was Oliver, a man who killed his brother and several psychiatric hospital patients as a child and then murdered his own mother and Dexter’s sister as an adult.
1. Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow)
3rd Rock From the Sun fans saw a terrifying side of Lithgow when the actor’s Dexter character, a seemingly mild-mannered man named Arthur, turned out to be Season 4’s Trinity Killer. Unmanaged childhood trauma led the adult Arthur to kill in cycles that echoed the fates of his sister, mother, and father. And Arthur haunted Dexter posthumously, too, as viewers discovered Arthur’s final victim was Dexter’s wife, Rita (Julie Benz). He also returned as a ghostly vision for Dexter in Resurrection.
Michael C. Hall
Jennifer Carpenter
C.S. Lee
David Zayas
James Remar
Desmond Harrington
Geoff Pierson
Aimee Garcia
Lauren Vélez
Christina Robinson
Preston Bailey
Julia Stiles
Julie Benz
John Lithgow
Devon Graye
Dominic Janes
Cristos
Rudolf Martin
Scott William Winters
Valerie Cruz
Kristin Dattilo
Jason Manuel Olazabal
David Ramsey
Jimmy Smits
Erik King
Keith Carradine
JoBeth Williams
Jaime Murray
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