Dexter original ending, explained

On Sept. 22, 2013, the entire world tuned into Showtime to watch the series finale of Dexter. It became one of the most talked about finales in TV history, and for the most part, not in a good way. Dexter returned to Netflix recently, and we will share with you how the series ended and why it caused everyone to call it one of the worst finales in TV history.

Dexter followed the story of Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analysis at the Miami Metro Police Department. That was surface level, as deep down inside him, Dexter had this urge to kill, and it led to his father Harry training him to properly use this urge to only go after heinous criminals that slipped through the criminal justice system.

Throughout the eight seasons of Dexter, the world falls in love with Dexter Morgan. If you've never watched Dexter, think of him as Joe Goldberg, but with more standards on who he killed. Michael C. Hall was dynamic as Dexter highlighted career-best work throughout some of the show's best seasons. Hall was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards for five straight years but never took one home (highway robbery).

The co-stars and Dexter's seasonal villains made the show equally good because of Dexter himself. Starting at the top, you had Jennifer Carpenter, who was great as Dexter's sister Debra, and David Zayas was the fun-loving Sgt. Angel Batista, and Luna Lauren Velez as Lt. Maria LaGuerta. However, the stars typically came from Dexter's foes, like the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow in season 4. This season was by far the best of the show, and Lithgow won an Emmy for his performance.

The disappointment of Dexter's ending

In the final episode of Dexter, titled "Remember the Monsters?," Dexter's sister Deb was shot and suffered a stroke that left her in a vegetative state. Dexter took matters into his own hands by pulling her from life support and dumping her body into the ocean.

After this happens, we see Hannah, Dexter's former partner in crime (and lover), escape to Buenos Aires to raise Dexter's son, Harrison. The show transitions to the world believing that Dexter Morgan had committed suicide. However, we cut to the last scene of Dexter and we see him very much alive. He faked his own death, took on a new identity, and now is working for a lumber company where he was attempting to suppress his "dark passenger."

The world was upset on many levels with how the show ended. From Dexter killing his sister to giving Harrison to Hannah to faking his own death to become a lumberjack, many have stated the ending of Dexter is one of the worst of all time (yes, that includes Game of Thrones). In 2021, we saw Dexter return with Dexter: New Blood, which tried to put the pieces back together to give us a little bit of a better ending, but that also fell flat with fans.

All eight season of Dexter are streaming on Netflix.