10 TV Characters Who Died Too Early

Dexter is another example of a show which killed off a great foil for no real reason - in this case potty-mouthed Detective James Doakes (Erik King).

In the show's first two seasons, Doakes gets the closest to bringing Dexter (Michael C. Hall) to justice for his murderous antics, expressing a constant suspicion of his activities, and eventually having his suspicions confirmed in the season two finale.

Unfortunately, because Dexter was destined to go on for another six seasons, this knowledge also sealed Doakes' fate, leading to him being blown up by Lila (Jaime Murray) at the end of season two.

Though the next few seasons survived just fine without him, it still felt like a huge waste of a great character whose feud with Dex probably should've continued for a good while longer - all the more so given that Doakes actually survived in the novels.

While later seasons did at least circle back to Doakes' murder and even reintroduce the character through flashbacks, ultimately a more slow-burn approach, where he grew gradually more weary of Dex, probably would've been more satisfying in the long run.