10 TV Shows That Chose The Wrong Main Character

9. Dexter - Dexter Morgan

The Walking Dead
Showtime

Who It Was

What makes Dexter different is that he started off as the right protagonist.

The first few seasons of Dexter were great and a lot of that was due to Dexter himself. Michael C. Hall's serial killer was a darkly funny and compelling character that made the show so entertaining, even if it did have some noticeable flaws.

The problem came with character development. When your main character is a serial killer who doesn't feel emotions, there isn't much room for development. When the show did try and push Dexter into becoming more "normal", stripped away everything that made him so likeable in the first place.

Frustratingly, the show also had a pretty clear path laid out that it just never bothered to follow. It always seemed to be on the edge of having Dexter snap completely and become the show's villain, something that would have made things far more interesting.

Who It Should Have Been

The protagonist duties then could have switched over to Dexter's sister Deb as she hunted for him and dealt with her conflicting loyalties to her family and her job.

Jennifer Carpenter's character was a massively underused character on that show and nothing would have fixed that better than a climatic face-off with her brother.

It would at least have been better ending than Dexter becoming a sad lumberjack.

Contributor

I was just a mild-mannered NCTJ accredited journalist until one day I found out the truth... that I could share my nerdy ramblings with people on the internet! It's just like mumbling to myself on the train, but without all the strange looks.