“Dexter” ran from 2006 to 2013. It’s about Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst with a night job as a serial killer. Yeah, real family man. His twisted need for justice makes for some wild TV. You get to watch him juggle relationships while keeping his secret life under wraps. With gripping plots and characters that make you think, this show had everyone glued to their screens.

Meet the characters from Dexter

James Doakes

Doakes is the kind of cop who looks like he’s about to explode but somehow keeps it together long enough to get you cuffed. Gritty, suspicious, and uncomfortably honest, he trusts his instincts more than paperwork — though weirdly he collects baseball cards in his free time? He’s tough as nails, hates liars, and has a soft spot for the underdog that he would never admit out loud. Also, he kind of grumbles at everything like it’s a personal hobby.

Maria LaGuerta

LaGuerta is all ambition wrapped in a perfectly pressed uniform and thirty shades of political calculation. She craves respect and power, will charm you at the press conference and quietly undermine you at the coffee machine, and yes she can be petty in the best possible way. Underneath the scheming she actually loves small rituals — like alphabetizing memos — which is oddly endearing if you ignore the trailers of chaos behind her. More complicated than she lets on, and prone to wearing red when she wants you to look.

Hannah McKay

Hannah is the dangerously charming florist-with-a-secret vibe, soft-spoken until she decides someone is done. Sweet, oddly maternal, and very precise — she tends plants and grudges with equal care — and she might poison your tea while smiling about orchids. She gives off “don’t mess with my cat” energy and also “I know how to disappear” and for some reason she likes old jazz records. Confusingly loyal to a fault to the right people, and mysteriously unreadable to everyone else.

Angel Batista

Angel is warmth and decency in a city full of shadows, the friend who remembers birthdays and also solves crimes without losing his humanity. Charming, chatty, and genuinely empathetic, he’s the glue in the squad who will listen to your rant and then politely call you out. He loves dancing, has a goofy laugh, and secretly writes awful poetry sometimes (I’m not kidding). He’s steady and moral and occasionally makes the worst coffee imaginable.

Vince Masuka

Masuka is loud, inappropriate, and somehow also the forensic brainiac you never knew you needed — he’ll make a crude joke and then identify something microscopic that no one else can see. His humor is a coping mechanism and he knows it, but he also has a weirdly deep loyalty to the team and to the weirdest collectibles (think novelty keychains). He says all the wrong things but usually means well, and he gets oddly philosophical when you catch him alone at the lab sink. Also, yes, he has a neon dinosaur mug and it’s not a metaphor.

Joey Quinn

Quinn is that charmingly flawed cop who drinks too much coffee and is perpetually trying to prove himself — sometimes succeeding, sometimes falling flat, but always trying. He’s stubborn, funny in a dry way, and has this accidentally sweet protectiveness, like a stray dog who became a detective. He can be impulsive, makes questionable choices, and also cooks a mean breakfast occasionally, which is confusing but real. A bit of a mystery even to himself, with scars and jokes in equal measure.

Harry Morgan

Harry is the stern, old-school mentor type whose rules built a very particular kind of monster — fatherly, rigid, and quietly proud of the dark craft he taught. He believes in code and structure, in the “right way” to do terrible things so they don’t undo you, and he can be impossibly pragmatic and also devastatingly cold. He liked fishing, apparently, and had a habit of leaving notes that could be read as either wisdom or emotional landmines. You can respect his logic and despise his methods in the same breath.

Rita Bennett

Rita is sunshine scraped from the bottom of a bottle — soft, bruised, kind, and surprisingly resilient. She wants normalcy more than anything, has this calming domestic energy (garden gloves, casserole dishes, the whole vibe), and yet she’s tougher than she looks when push comes to shove. She’s warm, forgiving, and sometimes impulsive in ways that make you want to both hug her and worry for her; also, she sings off-key in the shower and absolutely believes in good luck charms. Her sweetness is real, and stubborn as a weed.

Debra Morgan

Debra is a hurricane in a blouse: fiery, profane, hypercompetent, and absolutely devoted to proving herself. She’s emotionally volatile, knives-out fierce, and also, shockingly, goofy and sincere in private moments — tends to adopt awkward smiles when she’s trying to be normal. She loves detective work like a religion, but is also secretly into romantic rom-coms and junk food which is adorable and undermines her whole tough-gal act. She’ll yell you into honesty and then bring you a terrible latte she swears she didn’t burn on purpose.

Dexter Morgan

Dexter is a meticulous, chillingly calm presence who lives by rules and loves lists — he gives off quiet, creepy competence and an oddly tender attention to detail. He’s methodical, emotionally stunted in the most human way, and has this bizarrely dry sense of humor that pops up at the worst moments. He cares for his “little rituals” like they’re holy, is weirdly sentimental about children’s toys, and yet will disassemble a life without blinking; comforting and terrifying at once. Also he eats ice cream when thinking about morality and that seems like a very specific, true fact.