Many would agree that the serial killer trope has been used countless times; through books, movies, television, we’ve seen it all. That’s where Dexter Morgan comes into the picture.
In 2006, the book “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” was adapted into a television audience by the Colleton company for the cable channel Showtime. The main focus of the show was the life of Miami forensics analyst, Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall). During the day, Dexter is the shy, soft-spoken lab rat who is secretly the Bay Harbor Butcher; a vigilante who’s set on a mission of eliminating killers and criminals who fall through the cracks of the legal systems.
“I think it’s unique, because you typically don’t have murder shows where the murderer is in the investigative process,” Dani Thompson (11) said.
The show does a tremendous job of utilizing the serial killer trope and turning it on its head, with new terrifying threats every season that threaten Dexter and his family.
With the show’s conclusion in 2013, no new media was released until the announcement of “Dexter: New Blood” in October of 2020. And in that time the show fell into obscurity. However in 2024, Dexter suddenly rose back into the spotlight with a surge of new, young fans, flooding Netflix to watch. And it’s because of Tik-Tok.
One of the more popular forms of video on Tik-Tok are edits, which is a short form of video which uses television show clips or animated comic strips and blends them together using a catchy audio. When asked how she discovered Dexter, Ashlan Brantley (12) said, “I saw a few Tik Tok edits on Dexter and it was suggested by some friends who had similar movie interests as me.”
No story is without side characters who come in to help develop the story, and that’s where Sergeant James Doakes (played by Erik King) and Rita Bennett (played by actress Julie Benz) come in.
“It’s just cool how he’s always on to Dexter,” Tyler Besowshek (12) said, when asked about Doakes’ character. James Doakes is a former US Army Ranger and sergeant for Miami Metro Homicide. However, on the opposite side, there’s Rita Bennett, who serves the role of Dexter’s wife and human connection.
“She seems to bring out the better side of Dexter; the more humane side- and she just has good character development and she’s well rounded,” Brantley said.
Thanks to TikTok and streaming, a new generation is discovering “Dexter’s” dark charm. With unforgettable characters like Doakes and Rita, the show proves that even years later, the Bay Harbor Butcher still has fans—and he’s far from done.
