20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Dexter

Wait, this guy's a serial killer?

Feb 16, 2016 Updated: February 16th, 2016

It may have gone out with a whimper rather than a bang, but Dexter won't be remembered for its finale. It'll be remembered for fully committing to its bonkers premise of a serial killer who channels his violent urges into only dispatching other serial killers; for a truly great ensemble cast; and for that meme of Doakes saying variations on "surprise, motherf*cker." The show, which starred Michael C. Hall in the eponymous role, actually had a good line in making the main character seem sympathetic, whilst at the same time pitting him against some truly heinous adversaries. The Following hasn't got anything on the number of depraved, nasty pieces of work Dexter Morgan wrapped in cling film, all to the delight of the legions of fans the show earned over eight seasons. But it also angered an entire city, racked up as high a body count as it did number of expletives used (it might even give Scarface a run for its money) and possibly inspired some true-life tragedies. It was undoubtedly one of the most popular shows on telly, but also the most controversial - and most mysterious. Here are twenty mind-blowing facts about Dexter.

20. Angel Was Often Played By The Actor's Son

David Zayas should have counted his lucky stars that he managed to survive through all eight seasons of Dexter. His character, the charming-if-troubled Lieutenant Angelo Juan Marcos Batista (better known as Angel), had all the hallmarks of a victim to one of the show's many killers: beloved by fans, friends with Dexter, generally a good person. He had to go, surely? It's a miracle he never got killed off. Especially when he kept insisting on calling Dexter socio, a friendly term in Spanish which means partner but in English could be taken as being the first half of the word sociopath. Apparently eight seasons in the main cast was difficult for Zayas to keep up with, and he often didn't turn up for work. Sort of. Stand-ins are standard Hollywood practice, with reverse shots, or angles where a character's face can't be seen, allowing the use of body doubles instead of the actual actors. They're also used to set up shots so the talent aren't standing around doing nothing. When he wasn't about, Zayas employed his son, David Zayas Jr, as his stand-in often because they look identical.

19. They P*ssed Off Australia

Dexter routinely drew the ire of various organisations during its original airing. Unsurprisingly, people weren't all that fond of a popular TV show on a major channel like Showtime that supposedly glamorised serial killing, or at least suggested that murderers might be in any way sympathetic, or even likeable. What's more surprising is that Dexter managed to cause an international incident thanks to an off-hand remark in one episode which stated that Adelaide, a city in southern Australia, had the highest serial killer count per person out of any place in the world. It may or may not actually be true, but it's a widely-reported bit of grizzly trivia. Regardless of any factual basis, the South Australian government filed complaints against the local Fox affiliate that aired the show in the country, and adverts around the country promoting the then-current season were pulled from billboards, newspapers, magazines and TV screens as a result. Sure are sensitive, those murderous Aussies.

18. All The Blood Is Either Edible Or Acetate

Claret gets splattered round with merry abandon all the way through Dexter. It gives its lead character - blood splatter analyst and Jackson Pollock of red matter - something to do for a day job, after all. What you might not know is how exactly the special effects and set dressing teams on the show managed to create that much pretend blood. Joshua Meltzer, the show's prop master, revealed that his particular blend combines maple syrup, food colouring, peppermint oil, and dish soap. The blood is made from maple syrup, because it has a thicker texture and cleans up easier than corn syrup, he said. The peppermint oil is to ward off wasps or flies enticed by the sugary syrup. Delicious, right? Well, not always. You probably shouldn't eat soap (to get the fake blood out of clothes easier), for one thing. For another, when there are pools of blood seen on-screen they're often circles cut out of red acetate, as thin as a few sheets of paper, which can be reused, moved, and cleaned up way easier than the other stuff.

17. Julie Benz Auditioned For Deb

Often times actors will be cast in totally different roles than the one they auditioned for. There seems to be a recurring thing in Hollywood right now where people go in gunning for the hero role, and wind up being cast as the antagonist instead. The casting switcheroo in Dexter wasn't like that, but it was still pretty odd. Julie Benz was a series regular in the early seasons of Dexter as Rita Bennett, that sweet, naïve and totally doomed single mother that the main character shacks up with in the hope of grounding himself in a more normal life. Which obviously all goes to pot when she gets targeted and murdered for being involved with Dexter. Before she got the Rita part, though, Julie actually auditioned to play Debra. You know, the foul-mouthed adopted sister of Dexter. Which is a complete 180 from her actual role, both in terms of relationship with the main character, and with how often Benz would have had to say the f-word during her time on the series.

16. Dexter Killed Over A Hundred People

You always know when Dexter is about to kill someone. Well, you know because it's the whole premise of the show, but also because every time he does have somebody on the chopping block, Michael C. Hall pulls on that same brown long sleeve Henley shirt. Over the course of eight seasons, Dexter Morgan sure did wear that shirt a lot. But the surprising fact is that Dexter might have killed even more than the murders that were depicted on screen. Apparently he had 45 blood slides in the first of those wooden boxes before it was destroyed, and then has about 43 slides in his new box. On top of that are the twenty or so people that he didn't collect blood from. So all in all, Dexter killed around 117 people. Which means he accounts for roughly 15%-20% of the murders in Miami from 2006-2013, based on actual statistics. You'd think that the local cops would be paying more attention to all these deaths with the same modus operandi. Good thing he always ditched the bodies so professionally.

15. Deb Said "F*ck" Almost A Thousand Times

Sure, Dexter murders a lot of people, but at least he's civil about it. His sister, meanwhile, the adopted Debra Morgan, is a fairly straight-down-the-line cop who has a filthier vocabulary than a sailor raised on Tarantino films. Somebody actually did the maths, and Jennifer Carpenter's character said f*ck 996 times during the show's run. That's 996 f-bombs over the course of eight seasons. Eight seasons equals 96 episodes. Which means that Deb averaged something like ten f*cks per episode. That's a whole lot of f*cking. Apparently the character uses more expletives overall in any given episode than all of her male colleagues in the police force combined. Debra's ability to appear like just one of the guys was usually facilitated by her dirty mouth, and masked an internal loneliness. That and her pure moral code also put her in stark contrast to her brother, who was mild-mannered and found it difficult getting on with his colleagues (whilst also moonlighting as the sort of murderer his sister chased).

14. There Are Nods To Buffy

One of the more peculiar theories about Dexter links it to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a show that ended some years ago and doesn't appear to have any connection to the serial killer series. Yet it persists, drawing parallels between the ensemble cast, rampant murder and strict moral code of its violent protagonists. Actually, you don't need to go all that theoretical when comparing the two series. When Nina finds Angel about to chow down on a couple of hamburgers in Truth Be Told (episode eleven of the first season, fact fans), she admonishes him for indulging in fast food from the Doubelmeat Palace a franchise previously introduced in... ...Buffy, where the Vampire Slayer worked and it was hinted they used something sinister for their delicious hamburgers. So what's the connection between the two series? Well, regular Dexter scribe Drew Z Greenberg was previously a staff writer on Buffy, and worked the reference in.

13. Dexter Started Using Less Plastic To Save The Actors

There's a lot about having Dexter Morgan as your father which probably sucks. Like him being a serial killer, and sending you off to live with a stranger in Mexico whilst he fakes his death and becomes a lumberjack. Based on how well he secures his victims, however, you just know he's going to be an expert at tucking you into bed. Don't ask for any bed time stories, mind. Dexter must be responsible for most of the cling film sales on the Gold Coast, given the sheer amount he uses to strap people down. Well, for the first few seasons, at least. Originally, his murder victims were tightly cocooned in the stuff and the actors on the carving table were always actually naked (all that Saran wrap actually covered their modesty_. Over time, however, he started to use less of the stuff, and not for any in-universe reason. It was actually because that wrapping the actors that tightly meant that people were being suffocated. Not just having it over their mouth, but totally covering their bodies meant their skin couldn't breathe. It became so dangerous they may actually have died for real.

12. Nobody Knew When They Were Going To Be Killed Off

Shocking twists and character deaths were a hallmark of Dexter long before Game Of Thrones swanned into the hyper-violent cable TV game with its uncertain futures and bloody ends. Over the course of eight seasons everybody you thought was safe most of the main cast, essentially were slowly bumped off, in varyingly gruesome ways. Nobody was ever quite sure when there number would be up, however. Executive producer Sara Colleton explained that they never told the actors ahead of time when their character was about to be offed: You cant tell them at the beginning of the year, because its just too hard for them to spend a whole season knowing this. It would somehow affect their performance, she continued. That means that, for the most part, whenever somebody was about to be killed off they weren't informed until right around the time they were filming that particular episode. Which means all the shock and upset of those scenes is at least half-real.

11. John Lithgow Technically Appeared In Season One

The Trinity Killer was one of the most engaging, frightening season-long villains in the history of Dexter, and getting John Lithgow to play the character was a real coup. He's still best known to audiences at the goofy alien patriarch in sci-fi sitcom Third Rock From The Sun, or else as the voice of the bad guy from the first Shrek film. Not somebody who you'd expect to be a depraved serial killer, which is exactly what that role needed. Lithgow coming aboard wasn't only interesting because of his past roles, but because he's a high-profile actor who's been in the industry for decades. In fact, one of his breakthrough roles was in Terms Of Endearment, released all the way back in 1983. And it's that film which Dexter and Rita sit down to watch together in the very first season of Dexter. That means that, technically, John Lithgow actually appeared in the show some three seasons before he was actually cast as a recurring character. That's some crazy-good foreshadowing on the part of the writers (or an amazing coincidence).

10. The Trinity Killer Was Based On A Real-Life Serial Killer

Whilst Dexter Morgan himself has more fictional than real-life precedents, there are some elements of non-fiction that wormed their way into the show over the years. Chief among them was the inspiration for John Lithgow's creepy Trinity Killer from the fourth season, a regular suburban dad nobody suspected of being a terrifying serial killer. The shows writers have admitted that Arthur Mitchell was actually heavily inspired by Dennis Rader, better known as the BTK Killer. The notorious American murderer had a lot of similarities with Lithgow's character, not least of all his seemingly innocent nature. Both were also active in the church, their religious obsessions both covering up and inspiring their murders. Each serial killer had a routine they followed in their acts as well, with the Trinity Killer's ritualistic binding, torturing and then killing being very much in line with the modus operandi of the BTK Killer.

9. The Show Has Been Linked To Actual Murders

It apparently goes both ways, sadly. It seems inevitable that at some point, a popular series with a sympathetic serial killer as the main character would be blamed for inspiring copycat crimes in real life. In Dexter's case, there were two high-profile murder cases whose perpetrators were said to be following in the character's footsteps. Aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell apparently adopted the persona of Dexter, idolising the character and even starting a fake Facebook account under the character's name. He was found guilty of the planned and deliberate murder of 38-year-old Johnny Altinger, after posting a status stating Dexter is patiently waiting for his next victi... uh, play date buddy. Turns out he really did inhabit the character's mind to a degree. Meanwhile, young Andrew Conley said the show inspired him to strangle his 10-year-old brother, the court report saying he watches a show called Dexter on Showtime, about a serial killer, and he stated, 'I feel just like him.'. Conley actually placed a plastic bag over his brother's head after killing him, just like Dexter does.

8. There Are Bret Easton Ellis References Throughout

Comparisons have often been drawn between Dexter Morgan, gentleman serial killer, and Patrick Bateman, the similarly murderous-but-well-dressed star of Bret Easton Ellis's Wall Street satire American Psycho. And those similarities aren't purely cosmetic. Aliases adopted by Dexter throughout the show riff on American Psycho and other Ellis books, with the Patrick Bateman pseudonym employed to buy tranquillisers. Meanwhile, when he starts seeing a therapist Dexter books himself under the name of Sean Ellis, a combination of Sean Bateman (Patrick's younger brother from the novel The Rules Of Attraction) and Bret Easton Ellis. Apparently he has time to read a lot between murders, even though he seems to mainly own IT textbooks...

7. It Was Supposed To Be A Film At First

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the first novel by Jeff Lindsay, was reviewed positively when it was released in 2004. As happens with such well-received and bestselling novels with high concepts, it was immediately optioned for the screen except at first, Dexter was planned to be a movie star, not the lead in a long-running TV show. Yes, that first book could have become a straight film adaptation. The only reason that producers shifted gears and envisioned it better as a TV series was because they thought that audiences would automatically assume it was just another slasher movie, and they had trouble finding financing as a result. There's another intrinsic movie connection to Dexter - the theme song composed by Daniel Licht was originally written as a part of the score for the film Necronomicon: Book Of Dead. So it looks like, even though they wanted to avoid such associations, Dexter wound up having some horror movie DNA in him after all.

6. Deb And Dexter Got Married In Real Life

Actors getting married after working on projects together is nothing new. In fact it makes perfect sense; how many relationships do you know that began with two people as co-workers? In Dexter's case, though, it got a little weird. Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter hooked up as a result of starring on Dexter together, and even married for a while. Which was a little creepy since they played siblings on-screen. But it got even worse when they got divorced two years after sealing the knot, and still had to see each other every day whilst shooting the show. Seemingly just to mess with them, the writers then introduced the idea that Dexter and Deb who were actually adoptive siblings, rather than blood related might actually have some romantic tension between them. Carpenter, at least, was prepared for the eventuality, having played Deb with feelings for Dexter ever since the first season.

5. Jeremy Renner Was Approached To Play Dexter

It's impossible to imagine anybody but Michael C. Hall in the role of Dexter. Only he has that slightly devilish look in his eyes masked by a general air of aw shucks, me? regular dude-ness. Only he has that charmingly deadpan voice. Only he would agree to all of those ridiculous outfits he had to wear as somebody living in Miami. Except he wasn't the first choice to play the character. No, the actor was initially approached was Jeremy Renner. Director/Producer Michael Cuesta got in touch with the future Oscar-nominated actor long before his career-making turn in The Hurt Locker, asking Renner to play Dexter. Hawkeye ultimately declined because he didn't want to play another serial killer so soon after (ahem) killing it in the title role of 2002's Dahmer.

4. The Original Author Didn't Want Michael C. Hall To Star

There are all sorts of cute ironies, similarities and juxtapositions between the role of Dexter Morgan and David Fisher, Michael C. Hall's breakout role on the HBO drama Six Feet Under. Not everybody was so entertained by these connections, however, least of all Jeff Lindsay, author of he book series Dexter is based on. In fact, Renner may very well have become the frontrunner to play the titular character because of how adamant Lindsay was that Hall not get the role. He had seen him play the camp, neurotic Fisher and didn't think that the actor had the chops to play a convincing serial killer. Thankfully, the producers ignored Lindsay and brought Hall in for an audition anyway. Apparently he only had to read one line of the script, an Lindsay immediately changed his tune, since describing him as absolutely perfect for the role. These actors, eh? Apparently they're good at pretending to be all sorts of different people!

3. It Was Never Filmed In Miami

The Miami setting for Dexter is absolutely perfect. The remnants of the eighties drug trade in the city means there's still a realistically high murder rate for there to be eight seasons of rampant killings, the sun-soaked atmosphere is in sharp contrast to the dark subject matter, and it means everybody gets to wear some natty Hawaiian shirts. Thing is, Dexter was rarely shot in Miami. Not even in Florida. In fact, production rarely strayed outside of California most of the exteriors were shot in Long Beach, whilst interiors were all done at the Sunset-Gower Studios on Sunset Boulevard. Everything's fake in Hollywood! Some second-unit crews shot additional footage in Miami, but that mostly consisted of those helicopter shots of the Florida coast and the Miami city skyline from above. Those shots appeared so often some viewers turned it into a drinking game, taking two sips whenever one appeared on screen (and a further sip whenever Dexter talked about his childhood, amongst other rules).

2. Everybody's Name Tells A Story

Character names in fiction are often important signifiers of something about their personality, motivations, or narrative arc. Dexter takes that to a whole other level, with the eponymous lead's name being a Latin word that means right hand, or else the normal, regular hand. Therefore, Dexter's name is meant to mask his sinister actions in normality. Also both the beginning of his and Debra's first names, plus their family name, refer to the two laws of De Morga, an inference in propositional logic which basically amounts to one thing that cannot live without the other. Pretty much sums up their relationship. Then there's all the other Latin gags, like Lumen meaning lamplight (she's even darker than Dexter), Miles meaning soldier (ironically he wants Dexter to kill someone for him), and Vince, short for Vincent; Vincentius in Latin means winner (nobody sleeps with him).

1. The Show Was Meant To End With Dexter's Death

For many, the series finale of Dexter was a major disappointment. Seeing the serial killer get away scot-free, seemingly without any consequences to his actions, just rang false with the general trajectory and morality of the show. Even worse was that he was later shown to be living in Canada as a lumberjack, beard and all. How cliché is that? Well, the reason why Dexter got saddled with such a crummy ending was because Showtime insisted he not die, presumably in case they want to bring the show back at some point, or produce a spin-off. Former showrunner Clyde Phillips, who stepped down after the fourth season, actually had a plan for how the final scene would go down, beginning with Dexter waking up, hinting the entire show was a dream. Which is a far worse twist, but don't worry, it was just a fake out. He's actually awake on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary, about to receive the lethal injection, and he sees everybody that he's killed or been responsible for the death of watching from outside the room. So the whole show would have been like his life flashing before his eyes. Much better. What other mind-blowing facts are there about Dexter? Share any we missed down in the comments.

Tom Baker

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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/

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