Shows Like Dexter

Looking for shows like Dexter? Here are 10 series with the same dark anti-hero energy and psychological depth. We picked each title based on shared tone, themes, and emotional feel.

1. 

   1. Breaking Bad

   2008Drama

   Breaking Bad follows Walter White, a mild chemistry teacher in Albuquerque who starts cooking methamphetamine after a cancer diagnosis and gradually becomes a ruthless criminal. The tie to Dexter is the double life: a family man hiding a secret identity while law enforcement, including a relative, edges closer. Walter is not a serial killer, and the show has no inner-monologue narration, but its slow moral transformation is even more deliberate, making it the deeper character study of the two.

   Where to watch Breaking Bad
2. 

   2. Mindhunter

   2017Crime

   Mindhunter dramatizes the early days of FBI criminal profiling, as agents interview imprisoned serial killers to understand how they think. Fans of Dexter's fascination with the mind of a murderer will find that curiosity explored here in a far more clinical, grounded way. The killers are subjects, not heroes, and the pace is patient and talky, built on tense interview scenes rather than chases. It is less pulpy than Dexter, with a cool, meticulous style from executive producer David Fincher.

   Where to watch Mindhunter
3. 

   3. You

   2018Thriller

   You follows Joe Goldberg, a bookish, charming man who becomes obsessed with women and is willing to kill to keep them close, all while narrating his thoughts in voiceover. That narration is the clearest echo of Dexter, inviting viewers inside a killer's rationalizations. The big difference is that Joe has no code; he is a stalker who believes he is a romantic hero, so the show plays more as dark satire of modern romance than a vigilante story.

   Where to watch You
4. 

   4. Ozark

   2017Crime

   Ozark follows Marty Byrde, a financial advisor who moves his family to the Missouri lake country to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. Like Dexter, it is about an outwardly ordinary man keeping deadly secrets while trying to protect his family. The violence comes from the criminal world pressing in rather than the lead's own compulsions, and the tone is colder and more tense. It suits viewers who liked Dexter's constant fear of exposure more than its kills.

   Where to watch Ozark
5. 

   5. True Detective

   2014Crime

   True Detective opens with two Louisiana detectives, played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, revisiting a ritualistic murder case that haunted them for years. It shares Dexter's grim interest in serial murder and in the damaged people who chase killers. The approach is very different, though: it is a slow, philosophical anthology with self-contained stories, heavy on atmosphere and dialogue. Expect brooding character drama rather than the twisty, cliffhanger pacing that powered Dexter.

   Where to watch True Detective
6. 

   6. Hannibal

   2013Thriller

   Hannibal reimagines Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a refined psychiatrist and secret cannibal killer, as he consults on FBI cases and forms a twisted bond with profiler Will Graham. Few shows sit closer to Dexter: a brilliant killer hides inside the system meant to catch him. Hannibal is far more stylized and operatic, with dreamlike imagery and elaborate crime scenes, and it focuses as much on Will's unraveling mind as on the killer himself. It is darker, artier and much less playful.

   Where to watch Hannibal
7. 

   7. The Fall

   2013Crime

   The Fall pits a detective superintendent, played by Gillian Anderson, against a serial killer in Belfast, played by Jamie Dornan, who leads an outwardly normal family life. The killer's double life as a husband and father echoes Dexter's careful disguise, and viewers watch both hunter and hunted from the start. Unlike Dexter, this killer has no moral code and no sympathetic framing. The result is a quieter, more unsettling psychological thriller that treats violence with real weight.

   Where to watch The Fall
8. 

   8. The Sinner

   2017Crime

   The Sinner is an anthology in which a seemingly ordinary person commits a shocking act of violence, and detective Harry Ambrose, played by Bill Pullman, digs into why. It connects to Dexter through its focus on hidden trauma and what drives normal-looking people to kill. Rather than following a killer's ongoing crimes, each story works backward from a single act, making it more of a mystery about motive. It is slower and more sorrowful, with little of Dexter's dark humor.

   Where to watch The Sinner
9. 

   9. Dexter: New Blood

   2021Crime

   Dexter: New Blood finds Dexter Morgan years after leaving Miami, living under a new name in a snowy small town in upstate New York and trying to suppress his urges. As a direct continuation starring Michael C. Hall, it is the most obvious next step for anyone who finished the original Dexter. The setting is colder and more isolated, and the story leans into his relationship with his son. It plays best if you know where the original series left him.

   Where to watch Dexter: New Blood
10. 

    10. Killing Eve

    2018Thriller

    Killing Eve follows Eve Polastri, an MI5 officer played by Sandra Oh, as she hunts Villanelle, a gleeful, fashionable assassin played by Jodie Comer, and the two become fixated on each other. Like Dexter, it asks the audience to enjoy a charismatic killer while an investigator closes in. The tone is much lighter and more stylish, with globe-trotting locations and sharp comedy. It trades Dexter's inner monologue for a cat-and-mouse obsession between two equally compelling women.

    Where to watch Killing Eve