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Rita thought Dexter was autistic
  • There were times where Rita seemed confused by some of Dexter's actions (such as attempting to give her oral sex while she was crying at a sad film), but she still thinks that he's a truly decent person. My theory is that she believes some of his quirks are because he's autistic, and doesn't realise that stuff like that isn't appropriate. Note that I'm NOT calling Dexter autistic myself.
Harry didn't commit suicide...he was murdered by Vogel
  • We know Vogel has a soft spot for psychopaths, viewing them as "alpha males", "perfect", "a gift to society". She also has a history of using unorthodox methods to treat them. The brain surgeon has been removing the part of people's brains that processes empathy, as if he himself were trying to create psychopaths, and he's a former patient of Vogel's. And it seems increasingly likely that Dexter isn't nor ever was truly a psychopath. Put those pieces together and my theory is this: Vogel was experimenting to see if, through her therapy, she could create psychopaths, and Dexter was her Michelangelo's David, her gift to the world. Her goal was to take an emotionally disturbed child and teach him how to be a true psychopath. That's why she persuaded Harry to persuade Dexter he was going to become a killer eventually, no matter what. Harry ultimately grew wise to her game and decided to put an end to it, and to find what help he still could for Dexter. Vogel didn't want to see years of work go to waste, so she murdered Harry in cold blood. Now she's returned because the years have been eroding her work, and Dexter's humanity is beginning to show. His emotions are becoming ever more evident, as is his capacity to develop real empathic attachments to other people. She's trying to finish the job, to remove what little humanity Dexter maintained despite her best efforts.
    • Even if that's not actually true it would have been a waay better narrative than Season 8 has offered thus far. Perhaps there is still time to do it.
Dexter's curious behavior in Season 8
  • After Dr. Vogel's curious reference to Doakes' reported short temper and outbursts as inconsistent with a psychopath, we are then treated to several instances of Dexter losing control in ways completely unlike him though possibly understandable as his world is seemingly in disarray without Debra, including almost strangling an innocent man who cut him off on the highway in front of his son, angrily screaming at Harrison for accidentally breaking a pot on his desk, and stabbing a man to death who Deb was shacking up with as part of a private investigation. He is appearing more and more impulsive and less rigid to the demands of his Code. Is this a setup to turning him into a full on Villain Protagonist? Or was Vogel's passing reference foreshadowing to reveal that Dexter hasn't really been a true psycho/sociopath without any emotions all along? Or something else entirely?

At some point in Season 8, a motherfucker will be surprised.

Doakes is a Time Lord and he regenerated into Quinn.

One way or another, Dexter will survive the series finale.
  • He won't be executed or kill himself or go out in some dramatic twist of fate. A move that big would come off as overwrought. "Dexter" has been notorious for playing softball with its characters. I doubt they'd change that now.
    • Yep.

Dexter's insanity will be explored in the final season.
  • With his outbursts, cruel reasoning and creepy speeches, by season seven, the show finally got around to admitting the fact that Dexter is out of his goddamn mind. It looks like psychology will be a theme next season and Dexter's sense of empathy is being called into question bigtime by Deb and the new psychologist character (or She-Lundy.) In season seven, the writers tried to throw fans for a loop by having Dexter make some seriously questionable decisions. Maybe they'll take the plunge and bring him to bad guy territory. This IS a guy who murders for fun and has arguments with the voices in his head in public.

Dexter will be tried in court in the final episode of the series and WIN!
And it'll be before a jury (upon his confident request to a dumbstruck defense whose convinced he just signed his own death penalty) which, after he proudly confesses to all his kills and delivers a powerful speech on the ineffectuality of the criminal justice system, the monstrous acts of the people he killed, the need for someone to take charge when the law won't do anything, his own effectiveness in removing some of the most heinous killers from the streets and perhaps culminating in a line about how even a psychopath, with great mentors like Harry, can find a place in society and contribute, the jury, with support from millions of BHB fans who agree that heinous killers who escape the law ought to be killed and to the utter shock of the judges and attorneys, will rule him "Not Guilty" of murder and release him back to the streets amidst thunderous applause with full support for future killings. Cue a media frenzy of the first nationally sanctioned serial killer whom people everywhere admire. Truth in Television when you consider Dexter's real world fans.
  • Putting aside for a moment the fact that this is all fantasy (we know that from season 2, Dexter would NEVER deliver a speech in defense of his own actions), any prosecutor worth his salt would simply point out that Dexter could have called in anonymous tips, and saved just as many lives.
    • Not nearly as awesome though. And as for the last part—yes, because we all know how fast acting the police are to confirmed, verified problems, much less dubious "anonymous" tips indicting supposed upstanding pillars of the community who can easily hide their crimes from the police like they did to begin with—hence the need for Dexter to investigate them "outside the boundaries of the law". And we do know that the system is prone to endless corruption and Screw the Rules, I Have Money!; another addition to the popular appeal of eye-for-an-eye DIY Justice.
  • To add to this WMG, the ending scene of Season 1 is actually the last scene of the *series*, taking place at the end of the final season.
  • If this WMG was once far-fetched, what with a serious drama using jury nullification to let its protagonist get away with murder, it's not anymore!

Dexter commits suicide in the final episode of the series
As the show goes on and on, we see that Dexter definetely is not emotionless, and cares a great deal about those around him (it's possible that even Dexter himself is realizing this). Perhaps near the end of the series Dexter will develop a conscience about killing, or will come so close to his loved ones finding out about his secret life that he will orchestrate his suicide in such a way as to take down the final series' Big Bad in a way that both kills the Big Bad and makes Dexter's suicide look like a murder. He will do this to protect the minds and lives of his children and Deb.
  • Dexter is not completely without a conscience; but since the Code gives him a justification for what he does, he doesn't see it as a violation of his personal morality. But even if he never develops empathy for the people he's been trained to see as victims, he has appeared to struggle more with his Dark Passenger than he used to. Suicide may ultimately be the only way to escape it, as Dexter reflected when he saved Trinity from killing himself.
    • Except that the topic of Dexter committing suicide has already come up before in the show, by Doakes for example, and Dexter readily dismissed it as "pathetic".
  • Yes and no. He fakes his death.

Trinity is Barney's father from How I Met Your Mother
Obvious facts (AKA John Lithgow-ness) aside, Barney's father Jerry has hints of a more exciting past life, and his picture-perfect family does seem eerily reminiscent of the initial portrayal of Trinity's family, right down to the estranged much older child from a past relationship. Alternatively, they're an alternate universe version of the same family.

The Dexter series finale will be a Mind Screw a la The Prisoner
The first two seasons had a healthy dose of surrealism, and so they may go this route for the Grand Finale.

Dexter will be mortally wounded while attempting to subdue a victim. He manages to kill him in the fight, but he is slowly bleeding to death. Dexter manages to drags himself to his kill room, but the blood loss will make him hallucinate that all of his friends, enemies, and loved ones are coming to judge him for his crimes.

The last one will be Rita.

Think about it. It would be the perfect way to bring back not only Rita, but also Doakes, Brian, Trinity, Miguel, and maybe Lila.

Quinn dies at the end of season 5 due to Deb's Curse
Seriously, how does she still pull men when the last 3 of the 4 she dated were killed or skinned? The only two that (we think) survived were only in like 3 episodes. Quinn dies, and it is Dexter who does it.
  • Alternatively, she will leave him for Lundy. You know, his corpse. Squick-y.
  • As for Season 5, Jossed. It may still happen later though.

Chickey Hines taught Brian to kill, and also slipped the idea of a 'code' to Harry in the first place.
The seemingly 'innocent' Chickey Hines has been behind nearly everything all along, for decades. It was he who tipped off the drug dealers to Laura Moser. Harry adopted Dexter before he could, but he got to Brian in his early adult life and taught him how to kill and get away with it, but it was too late to instill in him the idea of a code. However, years before he did manage to slip the idea of a code into Harry's mind one night late at a bar. His goal was always to damage two children and train them to be the perfect killers, the keep the streets clean of the monsters that he didn't he the guts to take out himself.

Unfortunately for him, this all went afoul when Miguel Prado saw him for the monster he was and took the opportunity to put him behind bars, even if he didn't commit that particular crime. However, he'll be back. Dexter will have to meet him someday, and there will be blood.

Dexter is Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory.

See the WMG page for details.

  • Here you go.
    • Would Dee Dee have been Deb's nickname as a kid?

Captain Matthews is....something

No idea what, exactly. Season 4 painted him in a darker light than before, but there's always been something kinda off about him. He's always known more than he shares. He knew Harry killed himself (well, that's what's been established so far at any rate). He apparently knew who Laura Moser was and knew about the ice truck killer connection to Deb and Dexter at least as early as the end of season 1. And he's gone from being antagonistic towards La Guerta for legitimate reasons (her political maneuverings) to just being sinister and petty (seriously? Trying to screw her over for having a relationship? Because she's 'arrogant'? Wow. It doesn't help that La Guerta has been developed to the extent that she's lost a lot of the bitch she had from season 1, but even if this had come up in season 1 this feels like real overkill). So....just how far does the captain matthews rabbit hole go? Consider that question and it'll lead you to some interesting places. If he knows about Brian Moser...does he know about Dexter? Is it more than just plot convience that lets Dexter escape an FBI manhunt and kill a DA one year later without being caught? Was there an ulterior motive for the captain's insistence that Neil Perry was guilty of the ice truck murders despite La Guerta's protests (was he really taken off guard when it blew up in his face? He recovered rather spectacularly well from that blunder. Almost like he was prepared to roll with it....). Was Harry really helpless to deal with Dexter's urges any other way aside from his code, or did someone else have a hand in shaping the serial killer's serial killer? For that matter, when Harry was having second thoughts about what Dexter had become, did he really turn to suicide, or did someone decide to 'help' him along that road when he voiced his protests and desire to get Dexter real help? And then too....isn't it interesting that the drug dealers knew to look in the park that day to find Harry and Laura, or that they knew enough to say Laura was informing and sleeping with Harry? Did someone give out information to the drug runners that led to Laura Moser getting the chain saw and Dexter getting a dark passenger? Just saying, Season 5 could bring up some interesting explorations of a man who has gotten progressively more suspicious as the seasons pass.

Rita is going to find Dexter's blood-slides.

It will be the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Then Dexter will tell her that the slides are mementos from especially hard cases of his. Rita will choose to believe him since, well, she is kind of stupid that way.

  • ...or maybe not.
  • Ever consider that she committed suicide BECAUSE she found the blood slides?
    • Since when has Rita committed suicide? The Season 4 finale suggests that she was killed by Arthur Mitchell.
      • It's been a mildly popular theory. Dunno why.
      • Because she doesn’t fit Trinity’s pattern in any way: she’s a mother of three, not two, and killed not like the mothers are but like the single women. Also, letting the baby watch would hurt his innocence, something Trinity can’t stand.
      • ^ But then again, if she did commit suicide, why WOULD Harrison be in the bathroom with her? Would he have wandered in to find her or something?

Dexter is an AU counterpart of Light Yagami.
Both are Serial Killer Killers who adhere to a personal moral code, and also come from police families, have a Morality Pet sister, a traumatized Beard girlfriend/wife, and are very good at Machiavellian planning and hiding their gruesome hobbies. And they've gained massive amounts of fans for their vigilantism.
  • Addendum: Their standards are very different. Light kills to create what he would consider the perfect world, and he thinks of himself as the incarnation of justice. Dexter's only reason is to sublimate his urge, and he is far from being proud of it. Dexter EXPLICITLY limits his targets to those who have committed murder. Light's target are not only murderers, but also petty criminals and eventually everyone he considers a "burden to society". Light is pride and presumption incarnate; Dexter probably isn't.
    • Also, Dexter generally rules out killing people who served their sentences. Light kills dozens of people already behind bars.
    • Not really. While their attitudes are incredibly different, Dexter doesn’t seem to be ashamed by his Dark Passenger, but rather burdened by it, as he constantly had to make sure his killings are kept a secret, and he basically just wants to be accepted. Light doesn’t kill that petty criminals (he kills rapists and robbers, not shoplifters; it’s his successor who kills lazy people who is more extreme), and Dexter has killed some people in self-defence and one child molester. Also, Dexter kills people who’ve served for too short a period of time and are well-aware of that; Light might be following the same reasoning, judging by the Japanese judicial system to give appallingly low sentences for rape and murder in comparison to Western countries.
  • Dexter most certainly isn't, when anyone tries to give him some kind of Not So Different speech or anything of the sort he simply agrees. He even tells Miguel "You're all just unchecked versions of myself. The only difference is I know I'm a monster." (Paraphrased)
  • While Light and Dexter share many similarities, Dexter is almost an anti-Light:
  • Thinking of it, Light's understanding of morals is somewhat similar to Miguel Prado's.

Alternatively Light Yagami is another of Dexter's long lost (half-)brothers.
As noted on the Death Note WMG page Light Yagami looks nothing like the rest of his family with his (red-)brown hair but he does kind of look like Dexter. Dexter, The Ice Truck Killer and Light could share the same vicious bastard of a biological father. The mother was a Japanese woman and, after Light was conceived, she returned to Japan and either dies after giving birth or abandons the child and, like Dexter, Light is adopted by a police officer but that's where the similarities end. Light is very much "an unchecked version" because unlike Dexter who had Harry annd the Code, Light was raised so sheltered and made to adhere to such strict morals that he can't cope with the very idea of evil in the world or himself in any terms other than Kill It with Fire (or rather heart attacks). However since Light didn't have the same trigger as Dexter of sitting for days in his mother's blood. it took some extra encouragement to trigger his Dark Passenger. Notably when Light forsakes the Death Note during the Yotsuba arc he lacks the same evil and cunning that he has when he uses it. Something similar happens to Dexter when he, for a time loses his Passenger in the Dexter book series.
  • That would be an interesting family reunion: they'd be all affable in their charming personas (and they could trade fashion tips on those awesome shirts: Hawaiian vs. the male model catalogue) and then try to kill each other when they figure out their true colors. Light would probably run rings around Dexter as the Chess Master but on the whole he is a Non-Action Big Bad and Dexter would more than likely win in any physical confrontation.

Dexter is an alien.

One preview has someone say something along the lines of "Dexter is an alien! Oh wait, I just gave it away". This is not a joke. It's a hint of what's going to be shown at the end of season four.

  • Jossed for Season 4, but the general theory could still be true.
  • This is rather unlikely. In the books, the Dark Passenger is a separate (apparently supernatural) entity. In the series, this wasn't used because they didn't want the series to run as Mystery or Science Fiction. So I doubt they'll take up something like this.

Someone will write Dexter/Miguel slash fan fiction.

All thanks to this:

Miguel: I am the last person you wanna fuck with because I WILL FUCK YOU BACK IN WAYS YOU NEVER EVEN IMAGINED.

The Ice Truck wannabe Neil Perry is the same Neil Perry from Dead Poet's Society.
  • He faked his own death and moved to Florida.
  • He still loves theatre and pulled quite a performance.

Dexter is Number 16
  • Think about it; Dexter is a deadly killer, loves blood, and was taught his skills from his adoptive father. Number 16 was part of the assassin lineage, painted his secret messages to Desmond in blood, and most assassins, like Ezio, were taught by their fathers or a father figure.
    • One problem: if Harry was an Assassin, why would he choose to be out in the open? Most Assassins were in communes (Desmond prior to leaving) or working undercover in Abstergo (Lucy). Unless... Miami Metro is secretly a Templar front.

Harrison will grow up to be a Serial Killer.
  • This was already hinted at in the end of season 4, before he was even born.
    • Harrison was found crying in a pool of his own mother's blood. Symbolic, anyone?

Alternatively, Harrison will NOT grow up to be a Serial Killer.
  • Dexter doesn't want any more blood on his hands than he already does by himself, so rather than teach Harrison the Code of Harry, he'll teach Harrison to control and eventually stop the urges, as well as integrate into normal society. Unless they take cues from the books (where Astor and Cody are budding sociopaths which causes Dexter to teach them the code), this seems likely.
    • If Dexter knew how to control or stop the urges, he would do it for himself too.
      • He couldn't do it for himself because it's been a part of him for over 30 years. Grooming Harrison from that early an age makes it more likely that he could fix him.

Deb finds out about everything.
  • Deb finds out about this in the first book, but the show is doing things differently. Doesn't mean it's not inevitable.
    • Although her reaction might be different to the books. If TV Deb found out her brother's a serial killer, that'd be the straw that breaks the camel's back and would well and truly fuck her up for the rest of her life. Seriously, even suicide is not unlikely. She's relied on him whenever she's gone through some major shit, and this'd be like breaking a house's major support beam or whatever.
    • Confirmed.

Both Arthur Mitchell and Rita will reappear in season 5.
In Dexter's mind, of course. (Mainly because both are awesome characters.)
  • If I remember correctly, Julie Benz was confirmed to be leaving. A wasted opportunity, since they could always have her as a ghost a la Harry, reminding Dexter of his good natured self while Head Harry could keep Dexter on the code. Head Arthur could be a manifestation of the Dark Passenger wishing to be released. Is this too Id, Ego and Superego for the show?

It wasn't Trinity who killed Rita
The timing doesn't make any sense, she doesn't fit the pattern and we don't even know completely if Trinity knew where to find her. Suicide is actually more believable.
  • I don't think it was Trinity— Trinity didn't even know Dexter's address and the timing doesn't work out. Everybody seems to have forgotten that Rita had another marriage we know nothing about— remember her mom's "Third time's the charm" wedding card? Given her poor taste in men, perhaps he's a monster too and latched onto the fact that the Trinity killer was missing to finally wipe out his ex-wife; kill somebody you have a vendetta against with a local serial killer's MO, and you're golden. It could also be a character we haven't met yet. Less likely suspects: Quinn and Eliot.
    • I highly doubt Rita would be so tactless as to bring the baby with her to commit suicide. Even if she wanted to die, why risk causing her son to experience something so traumatic?
    • Because that would be rational. Suicide is never rational.
    • Except that one of Rita's biggest character traits is how much she loves and cares for her children. Even if she were suicidal she'd have never done something like that to her child.
    • Suicide is never rational? I can think of three circumstances in which a clear-headed decision may be taken in a state of mind which is bleak but not unbalanced. I do not say that any of these three reasons would usually justify taking one’s own life: only that they might. They are infirmity, self-sacrifice and shame. I could expound upon the arguments further but I don't think this is the place to do it.
    • There was no knife or blade near the body when they find it, and if they had discovered it, it certainly would have been mentioned.
  • It was pretty firmly established that Dexter pissed Trinity off something fierce, it's possible that he had time to do some research and find out where Dexter lives and did it because Dexter had "turned" his family against him. It fits.

The ghost of Harry is actually how Dexter imagines the Dark Passenger
Pretty much spent all of season 4 is spent telling him to stay away from his family and kill properly. Even considering what we know about Harry, this doesn't sound like what he would advocate.
  • Either that or its even more convoluted, upon seeing the blood in the container, Harry used the Morloch connection to transfer his darkness to the kids. This then continued after his death in a kind of sadistic possession. Either way, the ghost of Harry possessing Dexter at the moment is evil, whether or not he is actually Harry.

Masuka killed Rita
He seemed to take Angel getting stabbed and Deb being shot worse than anyone else in the department and was absolutely crushed when Eliot kissed Rita. He could have killed her out of anger or to 'protect' Dexter, and would know to copy Trinity's MO.
  • In the books, Dexter is friends with Masuka because he suspects he's incapable of emotions, too. This hasn't been mentioned in the show, but still...
  • In the last episode of season 4, it is heavily implied that Trinity at least knew of Rita's death. How could he have known if he didn't do it himself?
  • This theory doesn't hold water at all; Masuka was distraught rather than angry over the secret he was keeping, and showed visible relief when Dexter told him he already knew. If his motive was to 'protect' Dexter, how could he possibly achieve this by killing Rita, the woman he loves. If Elliot had been killed then there might be a small chance that Masuka could be involved.
Dexter isn't really a sociopath
Got the idea from Dexter's IJBM page where people discussed the sketchy approach to the whole illness as written by writers who aren't sociopaths. Dexter has the urges to kill, but isn't an actual sociopath or else Harry wouldn't have to emphasize emotional detachment in his code. Harry didn't want any emotions to get in the way so he convinced his son of his sociopathy and left Dexter to grow up with a massive sense of denial. He actively denies having emotions throughout the series, much despite the contrary and only starts to give in as Harry's Code slips up more and more, culminating towards the end of Season 4.
  • Which in turn suggests that Harry, in keeping with his character, put his passion for duty and need for justice far ahead of his adopted son, and turned him into a vigilante just to deal out justice to those who escaped the police. Dexter's "sociopathy" is a complete fabrication by Harry to give himself an excuse. Further, Harry killed himself because he could never forgive himself for what he did to his son to suit his own ends.
  • As the show continues, we get more and more evidence that Dexter, while severely messed up, is not a sociopath, and that Harry treating him as one (that is, as incurable) served to mess him up even further. Whether Dexter will realize that he isn't a sociopath is another matter.
  • While there is obvious evidence that Dexter is not a typical sociopath, what Harry did probably had some good and bad effects on Dexter's mental state. Harry reinforced the idea that Dexter needed to kill and that he was a monster, that there was nothing he could do about it, that he could only fake relationships and emotions (and so never taught him how to deal with real ones), but on the other hand he also loved Dexter unconditionally, understood him, and provided him with the means to control his urges. Harry didn't just give Dexter the Code, he was Dexter's first human connection, and Dexter has been looking for that connection ever since. Even if Dex isn't a sociopath, without his father's love and guidance he might have slipped further from humanity and become something even worse than the self-aware, conflicted Serial-Killer Killer we all know today.
  • The evidence for this might unknowingly come from the writers themselves. The show does a confusing job classifying Dexter's psycho-afflictions. All exposition, character development, and character history hints at him being a sociopath (something he said in ep 1). However, at times he shows psychopathic tendencies or "impulses" (killing being treated as urges, him "seeing" dead people give him advice, his need to collect blood from victims). He teeters between both, he is literally a psychopathic sociopath (though arguably the overlap between these two classifications is great, so the show probably doesn't feel like outright classifying him). One could chalk this up to the (book) writer(s) thinking that all psychopathy is the same. But this might also be a case of (unintentional) fridge brilliance. Because he illustrates tendencies from both groups, his affliction must be in part constructed. He might just be acting out both tendencies because he believes he is that way. Dexter as a teen definitely displayed some anti-social tendencies, maybe even had a ASPD, but Harry's insistence on him becoming a killer, rather than providing him some alternative perhaps helped him become a natural and complete "sociopath."
  • In the novels, Dexter comes across more as a person with Multiple Personality Disorder. There's "Dexter," the main personality, and the "Dark Passenger," who is the other personality that takes over when killing's to be done. A real sociopath wouldn't give a fig for Deborah, Rita or Rita's kids. Book-Brian is probably a sociopath, but Dexter may well not be.

Doakes really was the Bay Harbor Butcher.
Ok, stay with me. Dexter is delusional, and the show is from his perspective, and at least the first two seasons are his recollections of past events. He's compelled to figure out who committed murders, but doesn't actually kill the murderers, he only imagines that he does (hence why he never gets caught, and coincidences always work out in his favor). Doakes really did go nuts and kill some escaped serial killers, but in much smaller numbers than Dexter imagines himself killing, and after Doakes got caught and killed himself in the explosion, Dexter's deluded mind inserted himself into the place of a real-world equivalent of what he imagined himself to be. He actually did kill Freebo and Oscar, but it was in self-defense, as he told Miguel, and then Miguel really did kill Ellen Wolf (this may have forced Dexter to kill Miguel, or some other circumstances may have happened). In Season 4, he really did figure out who Trinity was, and started following him around, as part of his delusion.
  • Alternatively, the number of kills Dexter actually commits are wildly exagerrated by his psychosis, hence why he seems to think he commits about a murder every week or so, and is nearly crazy after a month at the beginning of season 2, but after a decade at it at the beginning of the wasn't even able to fill up a single box of blood slides.
  • It's not exaggerated. In the "Early Cuts" animated episodes (which are canon) it's clearly stated that Dexter didn't start collecting slides until late in his life. Up to that point he didn't bother with trophies at all.

That cop(I forget her name) killed the headless woman
She was having an affair with the woman's husband, then killed her in a fit of jealousy. She dressed up the head in the style of the Santa Muerte cult, then made sure she was first on the scene in order to mislead the police. When the husband commited suicide she was the first responder again in order to push the investigation away from herself.
  • Unlikely considering the events of the raid in "Beauty and the Beast", and also considering there have been two deaths with a machete.
  • Jossed. She could (and probably is, this is Dexter were talking about) still know more than she's letting on.

The "Take It Now" self-help deal is part of the ring Boyd Fowler ran in.
Considering it was a focus of Boyd's character for two episodes, it's entirely possible. It has a pretty strong message that obviously spurred Boyd on.
  • As of "Circle Us", confirmed.

Dexter is seeing The First Evil.
Dexter suffers from trauma, repressed memories and a cold detachment from emotion. This never results in hallucinations until season 3 when he starts seeing the "ghost" of his dead father. But that's only because The First is manifesting as Harry. The First's motivation is that it needs time, possibly millennia, to build up its army again. Hence it is biding its time and in the process decides to mess with severely psychically damaged people. You know, for shits n' giggles.

Lumen will be a villain and will be killed before the end of season 5.

Because she knows too much for the show to go with her. Everyone who learns who/what Dexter is doesn't last long, and it's because they always turn out to be antagonists. No, Dexter & Lumen cannot become partners in crime, as that was so thoroughly deconstructed with Miguel.

There are always two villains in the Showtime storylines, one a close personal villain for Dexter and the other a general villain for the police. (Lila & Doakes/BHB, Miguel & The Skinner). In season 4 they were both the same person, but still fall this way to reflect Arthur Mitchell's double life, one as the notorious Trinity Killer and the other as Dexter's new role model Arthur. And like Lila and Miguel before him, Arthur's personal life is only subverted in the final few episodes.

We have the serial killers for this season in the beheader(s), it is too late in the story to introduce a new major character, and so the personal villain will be Lumen.

  • Maybe. Still a really likely theory, but this season seems to be messing with expectations, the beheaders now out of the picture. It's also hinting that Lumen may be a reconstruction, Dexter even saying that she may be able to know his secret unlike Miguel and Harry before her. She's also becoming a bit of a Love Interest...
  • She doesn't seem to be turning out a villain, but the pattern doesn't look good—every time Dexter hopes that he's found a friend who can accept his dark side, he ends up having to kill them (Ice Truck Killer, Lila, Miguel, Trinity). One way or another, I don't see Lumen surviving the end of the season.
  • Jossed. She survives and appears to lose her Dark Passenger, freeing her of her need to kill.

Dexter will die in the series Grand Finale
Lumen will stay with Dexter and somewhat become his apprentice, something he couldn't achieve with Miguel. They for what ever reason have a falling out, and Lumen realizes that Dexter himself needs to die. The last scene of the series will be him on his table looking at old clippings of the Bay Habor Butcher, being stabbed in the heart. That or it will be a Distant Finale with Harrison, due to Generation Xerox, ending Dexter's life everything coming full circle.
  • If he is killed by Lumen, there will be a spinoff series called "Lumen" or "Illumination". If he is killed by Harrison, there will also be a spinoff, but in a Science-Fiction setting 20 Minutes into the Future.
  • I've always thought so myself. Dexter is a great character for the series, but the fact that he is a vigilante serial killer, plus having killed at least two innocents in the show (one of them willingly) makes for him to have done hoops around the moral event horizon several times. I think he will finally loose his dark passenger, but either: be discovered and sentenced to death or life in prison, or die in a redeeming fashion.

Debra will get to know about Dexter's "hobby".
There are several plot elements that seem to build up to this, like Debra shooting a man without feeling remorse and talking to Dexter about it, or that guy who investigates Dexter for Quinn. (In the books, Debra knows from book 2 on.)

Dexter will take on an apprentice...
Sometime after the events of the series, Dexter will have holed up in some part of the country, doing his work despite it's having destroyed his life. In that time, he will encounter a young man with a darker past than his, who is struggling with homicidal intentions and needs to be taught when is the right time to let these urges come to the surface. He'll be living under an alias at that time, the legacy of his family's long history of law-dodging, but rudimentary investigatory work will reveal his birth name as Shane Botwin

Dexter's first victim was a hithertofore unknown sister, Dee Dee.

Inland Empire (or parts of it) is Lumen's background story, or the story of another of Jordan Chase's victims, told by an Unreliable Narrator.
No real reason, but Nikki Grace would also fit the profile of Jordan Chase's victims. It doesn't really make sense, but then, considering Inland Empire, what does? In one scene of the last Dexter episode "In the Beginning", Lumen was shown watching the DVD recordings of her own torture, a scene somewhat similar to some Inland Empire scenes.

The police are going to capture Lumen in the season finale and she is going to go down alone for the murders without ever revealing that Dexter had helped her.
Because I think it would be a pretty good twist.
  • I always thought this too. It would have been a thousand times more interesting then her just leaving.

Debra will kill Jordan.
  • She didn't, but that would have been cool.

The guys of Jordan Chase's Circle are actually the kids from South Park grown up.
  • Jordan Chase / Eugene Greer is Eric Cartman. Both are fat as children, although Chase loses weight after the rape of Emily Birsch. Also, both are ruthless sociopaths and like to give speeches.
  • Boyd Fowler is Kenny Mccormick. Mainly because he is the first of them who dies, but also because he has the lowest social status of all five. Also, both Fowler and Kenny are arguably the kinkiest/most sexually perverted member of their respective groups.
  • Cole Harmon is Kyle Broflovski. First, there's the phonetic similarity of their first names. Also, it's implied that Cole Harmon is the guy who constantly cleans up Chase's messups, and both can't really stand each other, much like Kyle and Cartman.
  • Alex Tilden is Leopold "Butters" Stotch. Remember how he whined that all was Chase's fault just before he was killed by Lumen?
  • Dan Mendell is Stan Mash. Again, phonetic similarity of their first names.

Dexter would have grown up to be a violent criminal anyway.
Even if Dexter's mother hadn't died in the shipping container, she probably wasn't the best mother, being a crackhead who took her two little boys to a dangerous drug deal even though she feared for her life at the time, and his father was a criminal who'd done jail time, if I remember correctly. Harry probably did a better job raising Dexter than his biological parents would have. It's not unlikely that Dexter would have grown up to be some kind of criminal, given his circumstances, even if he'd never been traumatized by his mother's murder.

Lumen never existed.
She was actually a delusion that Dexter created in order to cope with Rita's murder. On the heels of his failure to protect his wife, along comes this blond victim who not only serves as someone Dexter can rescue like he couldn't do with Rita, she also fulfills Dexter's fantasy of being appreciated for his "work" and being treated like a hero. Not only that, but when he is fully revealed to her, she accepts him implicitly, offers him understanding and love, and is the "light" to his dark. He also helps her to get rid of her darkness like he is unable to do with himself. Ultimately, however, she leaves, because Dexter can't truly bring himself to believe that anyone can accept him for who he is, and he realizes that their relationship was nothing more than an imagined wish.
  • Nope. Other people interacted and see her, Deb, Quinn, Jordan Chase, Elliot (the neighbor), the Head of Security guy, etc.

In the series finale...
  • Dexter will be caught, but will work something out with the police where he helps catch murderers.
  • Or, he'll be caught, but the last scene will be Debra visiting him in prison and saying that she needs his help to catch a new serial killer that is on the loose.
  • Or, we think he is caught, until the last scene is a shot of a car driving at night, we see his eyes reflected in the rear view mirror and we hear his voice over say "Tonight's the night."
  • He does off the deep end and/or kills another innocent (or gets nabbed for killing that photographer). He will be caught. By Deborah. And he allows/forces her to kill him to end it.
  • Dexter will have been caught committing a murder, end up being tried, sentenced, and taken to the electric chair. The executioner will flip the switch, and then...it will be revealed that the entire show is just a nightmare Harry had in the split second after asking Dexter (8 years old) if he killed the neighbor's dog (when Harry first realized that Dex was a serial killer). Only this time...
    Harry: Dexter, did you kill the dog?
    Dexter: What?! No! I'm not a psychopath!
    Harry: Thank god...for a moment I was worried.
  • He dies and the torch is picked up by Astor with Dexter as her Harry/Dark Passenger figure.
  • If he doesn't die, and little Harrison is killed off by the end of season six, we could expect a "The Nativity" style torture then murder. That and Dexter will be at an obvious breaking point where an important decision is made. It's either continuing to follow his dark passenger or put those he cares about the most first indefinitely.
  • Dexter is caught, but sentenced to life in prison rather than death. After that, he basically turn into Hannibal Lecter, a scary-ass inmate the police turn to when hunting particularly difficult serial killers.
The nanny will end up raising Harrison.
Dexter will either a) realize that he cannot give his son the life that he wants for him, and will ask the nanny to Give Him a Normal Life, or b) get caught or killed by the end of the series, in which case the likely candidate for who gets Harrison would be Deb, who, let's face it, isn't really parent material and decides the nanny would do a better job than her at raising the child.

Special Agent Frank Lundy was once Special Agent Dale Cooper
He escaped the Black Lodge and continued his work for the FBI. Notice Special Agent Lundy is chipper, upbeat, has precise unique methods and is obsessive about food. He even ends his time on Dexter by saying he is going to work on a case in Portland, OR. Back to where he started...
  • Although it would be cool, I don't really think so. Unlike Cooper, Lundy shows no signs of any present or past interest in Tibetan Buddhism or New Age Mysticism.
  • He does present a rather Buddhist mentality towards life, just not naming it as such. Stopping for Lunch precisely at 1pm to enjoy the sunny day. Keeping his mind open and clear to observe that which all others are missing. He might not be as quirky as he was in his youth but maybe he has mellowed out some . . .

Debra already knows about Dexter
She's repeatedly shown to be an extremely skilled detective. She would have figured it out by now, what with Dexter showing up at Trinity's house without a police vest only to have his wife murdered by Trinity hours later. And she knows that he was related to Brian Moser. Then there's Quinn's theories about Dexter in the fifth series, which must tip her off slightly. We see how suspicious she is when she meets Lumen, and it's right around this time she decides that there are a couple committing the murders. She lets Dexter and Lumen go and never asks to see their faces so she can continue to feign ignorance around Dexter, because she doesn't want to become an accomplice.
  • There was a moment in the fifth season finale where it appeared that Debra might have recognized Dexter from behind the curtain. She kind of pauses and makes this odd face when she looks at the blurred figure of her brother, as if maybe she suspected that it was him even though she couldn't see him clearly. Maybe she didn't want to see their faces for fear of having her suspicion confirmed.

Lumen will return at some point
Her departure seemed unnatural. And I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that her Dark Passenger leaving like that is not how it works.
  • She'll come back nine months later to dump a baby on his doorstep, then vanish. In all seriousness, though, I doubt she will be back. And as for her Dark Passenger leaving, she never really had one. At least, it wasn't the same as Dexter's, which got into him when he was very small and only just developing mentally. Lumen was already an adult and thus would have an easier time being able to overcome her traumatic experience.

There will be an episode focusing on the kill-shirt.
Because Dexter's kill-shirts are awesome. The episode will start with the kill-shirt being destroyed, accidentally set on fire by Masuka when Dexter was trying to hide it. Then, flashbacks will show the development of the kill-shirt throughout the years (times it saved his life, Dexter's victims complementing him on it before they died...), eventually leading to its origin: it was a birthday present from Deb. At the end, Dexter will say a tearful goodbye to his kill-shirt...then go to his room and reveal that he has a closet full of them.
  • I'm fairly certain that Dexter uses a different kill-shirt for every kill and tosses it along with a set of knives and all the plastic wrap he gets for each kill. That being said I think this a detail overlooked by the writers for the sake of simplicity because in reality when Miami Homicide found the Bay Harbor Butcher remains if they also found a bunch of the same type of shirt and knife sets it probably wouldn't be too hard to track down who had bought said items en masse.

Colin Hank's character and his sister will be duo killers
and it will be used in comparison to Deb finding out Dexter's secret. There will ptobably be a moment of one of them wondering if they'll become that way.
  • Or Colin Hanks will be the killer keeping his secret from his sister, and the same comparison will be made.

The entire show is told in flashback
The finale episode reveals either that Dexter is recounting his entire life and career to a reporter as he sits on death row, or he has made it to a ripe old age, and has written a memoir about his 'real' life, kinda like an OJ Simpson "If I did It" sort of thing. The latter, of course is a somewhat happier ending and thus, is obviously not going to happen.The only flaw I see in this is the rather convoluted form the show takes on. Having flashbacks within Flasbacks is strange.
  • How I Met Your Mother has flashbacks within flashbacks WITHIN flashbacks sometimes. A few times even adding an extra layer of flashback.

Gellar (the character played by Edward James Olmos) isn't a real person.
He's Travis' Dark Passenger. Until now, we haven't seen him do anything himself. He just gives instructions to Travis, who does all the real work.
  • Alternatively, he's a darker version of Harry, someone who used to be alive and real, and now sticks around and forces Travis to do things, instad of Harry who wants Dexter to have a good life.
  • In the last episode, we saw Gellar's old website with an image of his face on it. So this is probably Jossed.
    • That doesn't joss anything. He disappeared years ago, who is to say that it was really him who updated the site? And look at the scene in the cafe, where the waitress ignores him. Or how he got into thebedroom all of sudden? My bet is that he teached Travis how to be a religous nutcase, died suddenly and now Travis is imagining him. He "sleepwalked" the abduction of the waitress.
      • Good point. After all, Harry was a real person too.
  • As of episodes 6 & 7, he's definately been doing... er, stuff. So this is Jossed unless Travis is doing things he can't remember while in the "Gellar" persona.
    • But we have never seen him do stuff while Travis is somewhere else, doing something else. Also note how in the very same episode, Brian physically throws a bodybag at Dexter, pitchforks the motel-owner and grabs Dexter by the head. I thought that the rules of the dark passenger where shown specifically to justify Gellar doing stuff when it's revealed later that he is not real.
  • As of episode 8, Dexter has seen Gellar. So, unless Dexter has an ability to visually see other people's Dark Passengers, this is probably finally Jossed for good.
    • Actually Dexter never saw him. Travis pointed to Gellar and when Dexter tried to look he was gone. Also this theory is so plausible in-universe that people expect it to be the twist.
      • Therefore, since the show appears to be trying so hard to undermine the reality of Gellar, there will be an Untwist when he turns out to be real.
  • As of episode 9, this is no longer a theory. Gellar is reveiled to be long dead and Travis appears to have killed all of the DDK victims himself.

Gellar will replace the victim Travis set free with Travis' sister.
Gellar will probably not be very happy with what Travis did. We have seen how he punishes Travis for even small deviations.
  • He did.
    • He did not.
      • This is (sort of) a question of semantics. The real Gellar indeed did not do it, since he's long dead. However, the guy we always called Gellar turned out to be Travis' Dark Passenger. So, in a way, he did.

Gellar plans, and has planned all along, to make Travis his last victim.
  • Unless Travis plans to commit suicide, this is Jossed as of episode 9.

Lewis (Masuka's intern guy) will turn out to be Brian's son.
The ages fit, they look rather similar, and it would explain why Lewis bought the hand, and why he appears to have sent it to Dexter, and just his general creepiness. Also, it would be another reason for them to have Brian return for an episode, as opposed to just Rule of Cool. If they're going to have one of his relatives pop up, they'd need to remind the audience of who he is.
  • They do look a bit similar, and I have wondered if he is another brother — but the ages fit? How young do you think Louis is? I say he's within 10 years of how old Brian would be.
  • If Brian was a teenage when Lewis was born it would be possible for Brian to be the father. Especially because if Dexter was able to attend medical school, as Doakes sates he did/could have when confronting Dexter with the results of a background search, Dexter would at a minimum have to be in is mid thirties placing Brian around 40ish.

Dexter's response to Deb seeing him kill Travis
Dexter will trying to come up with an excuse like he always has in the past but will fail utterly. Deb will make him make it look like Travis killed himself because she needs to close the case. We will then get a full season of Deb having a moral dilemma over whether or not she should let Dexter keep doing what he does.

The "endgame" for seasons 7 & 8:
Louis is obviously the big bad for season 7. Judging by the evidence, he will either be some kind of copycat killer or an anti-Dexter vigilante. Deb will have yet another drawn-out internal struggle about her independence and her brother, resulting in the decision that he's gotta go. The final season will be similar to Season 2, where Dexter is the main villain, and it will play out as a chess game between Dexter and Deb, which Dexter will ultimately forfeit.
  • I think Louis will be more like Brian in the first season only less experienced. I also think the Deb and Dexter relationship and relationship conflicts will be projected on Louis and Jamie if Louis becomes an antagonist.

The first words Dexter will say in season 7...
"Debra, get out of my church!"

The next season will be a Dexter / CSI: Miami crossover.
Horatio Caine: "Seems like the blood of Christ..." *puts sunglasses on* "...is not the only blood in this church." - YEEEEAAAAH!

Ghost Harry will be Dexter's final victim.
In a show this rife with embarrassingly obvious symbolism, metaphorically putting Harry on Dexter's table seems inevitable. If they're going to make the last kill a big one, that'd be the way to do it.
  • Alternative: Harry somehow faked his suicide and is still around, and by killing him, Dexter also metaphorically deals with his own "inner" Harry.

Another "endgame" for seasons 7 & 8:
At the end of Season 7, Deb will commit suicide, just like Harry did. Season 8, if it is indeed the final one, will be about Dexter fully giving in to his darkness (à la "Nebraska") and going on a rampage, which leads to pursuit by Miami Metro. You can't tell me that Season 4's line "If Deb dies, I'll be...lost" didn't sound like foreshadowing.
  • This isn't so far-fetched actually, Dexter was having withdrawal fantasies of killing a lady at a post office pickup line, and then stabbing Vince Masuka in the neck.

"Marshall" from the movie Mr. Brooks is a Dark Passenger.
Now that we know that other people than Dexter can have Passengers too, it might be possible.

Season 8 will take on a 'dark-vacation' theme

Everything is presented as normal, his blood slide and documentation stash will be disposed of, he'll take his son around the world. But Debra won't be the same and this'll affect Dexter. There won't be a serial killer -maybe-, instead, trying to understand his dark passenger. This will go bad at some point, and wind up publicly exposing an urge to murder.

  • Dexter and Debra resent each other as months pass
  • Members of the forensics (not even primary individuals) grow alienated by Dexter, to a poisonous degree
  • His son begins to exhibit behavioral issues due to traumatic recollections of his mother
  • Noting the staff behavior, various committee members in the Miami Police begin honing in on Dexter Morgan for psychological analysis
  • Eventually Dexter begins counting all of which was happening around him this season, grows paranoid and again resentful towards former friends
  • The dark passenger stalks him again and it's the same as it was in Season 6, except with much less control
  • He loses control and kills someone who approaches him with preconceived hostility

There will be a Lumen spinoff series after season 8.
If Dexter should be caught at the end of season 8, the new series will begin with Lumen learning about (or even watching) his execution - which will somehow wake her own Dark Passenger again.

Dexter is the fetch of Dexter from Dexter's Lab
Basically Dexter's Lab Dexter was stolen from just after that series ends and replaced with a sociopath fetch from Changeling: the Lost

Someone in Miami Metro will die before the end of the season.
The writers have to shock us by the end of the season by having something BIG happen before the final season and seriously, there are WAY too many of those people. The numbers have to be thinned anyway. Who's it gonna be?
  • I doubt they'd begin a subplot in which Batista finally succeeds at something and has found true happiness if he wasn't about to be tragically cut down. It'll probably have something to do with he and Quinn fucking up with the Kashkas.
    • Probably La Guerta. Her little investigation is going to clash with Dex's number 1 rule and frankly, the fans don't really like her a whole lot.
    • Deb will be asked to take laGuerta's position, which will cause even more emotional conflict for her.
    • I actually thought Isaac might kill laGuerta, but he's dead.
  • Keeping to the Kashka storyline, Quinn's long-awaited demise is highly likely. They've been struggling to make him relevant until this season and maybe now that he has someone to fight for, they can knock him off while making his character arc more climactic.
    • Jossed on Quinn's part, whose storyline was finally dropped like a hot potato. And there was much rejoicing.

Season 7 will end with an epic Cat Fight between Hannah and Debra.
Just for the fun of it.
  • Debra will win.

In Season 8, Dexter will be in prison.
But there will be yet another serial killer out there, and they will need Dexter's expertise both as an analyst and as a killer. So, they'll consult him for advice. It'll have several Shout Outs to The Silence of the Lambs.

Dexter's gonna kill Hannah.
  • This seems like a know-duh, but someone had to post it before the season wraps up. Maybe Hannah latches onto La Guerta's investigation and kills her to save Dexter. Unfortunately, that means the code will catch up to her, whether Dexter likes it or not.
    • That's not how the code works. Hannah really already fits the code. But Dexter still decides who among those that fit his code becomes his victim and who doesn't.

Hannah will take the fall for Dexter in the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation.
Possibly after Deb sets her up for it. La Guerta and Mathews have gotten too close to the truth to plausibly back off now so someone has to go down and Hannah probably isn't going to stick around for season 8 anyway.
  • And how is that going to work? Everybody already knows that the Bay Harbor Butcher must have been a Miami Metro Homicide co-worker at least at some point in the past.
    • Oh, right.

Dexter is a vampire.
If you ignore the fact that Dexter is not a vampire, he's a very stereotypical vampire. The show even uses a lot of typical vampire tropes.
  • He was created in and by blood.
  • He drains his victims' blood.
  • He's obsessed with blood. His livelihood comes from blood, as a blood spatter analyst. He even seems supernaturally able to "read" it at crime scenes.
  • His father is not his biological father, but is the one who "created" him and taught him how to kill and get away with it. He has a complicated relationship with him, sort of in an I Hate You, Vampire Dad vein. He doesn't hate Harry, but he struggles with him.
  • Like many vampire protagonists, he only hunts and kills evil doers, so we can sympathize with him. Louis and Lestat both did that.
  • Nobody knows he's a vampire, because he keeps his identity hidden.
  • He only hunts and kills at night—the monster is only active at night.
I'm not sure how he walks around Miami in the daylight. But other than that...
  • If you read original myths as opposed to comic books and movies, you find out that sunlight doesn't harm them at all, rather it just weakens them. It's not like Kryptonite but more like, they are Brought Downto Badass.
  • There are many versions of vampirism with notions of what they can or cannot do. We have a trope for that: Our Vampires Are Different.

The final season takes place in prison.
The next-to-last season will end with Dexter being caught. The final season will open with him being sentenced. He's expecting death...he gets life. You see: he confessed everything, and the jury interpretted this as a sign of remorse. So, he finds himself being targetted in prison for an episode or two...until murderers with guilty consciences start coming to him, and rallying around him. Dexter unexpectedly finds himself the leader of a prison gang, teaching them the Code, and using them to systematically wipe out the most dangerous killers before they can be paroled. In the final episode his gang breaks him out...against his will. After they have him out they tell him that the world outside still needs him, and the show ends with him running off, and saying "tonight's the night."
  • Jossed. Dexter's a lumberjack.

The Brain Surgeon is like Dexter.
If I recall right, it's been announced that Season 8's main serial killer, The Brain Surgeon, removes the part of the brain that feels empathy from his victims, and Dr. Evelyn Vogel believes this killer is a past patient of hers (This is all from memory, so if either of those are wrong, the theory kinda falls apart). I think that The Brain Surgeon is like Dexter, a killer who hunts those that have slipped past the cracks of the justice system. Unlike Dexter, though, he wants people to know of their dastardly deeds, so he hints at it by removing the part of their brain that processes empathy, pointing out "They lack empathy. They're killers!" After all, Vogel did apparently help Harry form the Code, according to some info. Further more, judging from some episode summaries, Vogel will have him kill some other murderers. Perhaps, this is what she's doing with The Brain Surgeon, which would explain why this would happen around the same time she comes to Miami. However, she wants him dead due to the fact that he's now displaying the kills as trophies, rather than disposing of their bodies. So, she comes to Miami Metro, and while making it seem like she's trying to find the killer with the cops, her true reason is so she can have Dexter kill him and cover her ass.

Also, Dexter will end up killing Vogel, either because she tries to have Dexter kill Debra when she discovers she killed Maria, or because he thinks she's bad for having people kill for her. Although it would be hypocritical of him to do that, Dexter isn't above hypocrisy. This next part may sound a bit far fetched, but Dexter and the Brain Surgeon may team up to kill Vogel, and then after her death, one will kill the other, and the series will end. Or perhaps the Surgeon will harm Debra when he finds out she killed Maria, which results in Dexter killing him and ending the series.

Or, Vogel is the Brain Surgeon.

  • Jossed, unfortunately.

Vogel is a reformed psychopath.
She is this season's foil to Dexter: someone with hallmarks of a violent psychopath and/or sociopath who has learned or been taught to use those psychological differences in constructive ways. Dexter has long seen himself as someone like this, but season 7 really made it clear that Dexter's condition is as much the result of Harry teaching him that he is a killer, that he can't help being a killer, that he should kill and do so in constructive ways. In contrast, Vogel was able to seek help and keep any violent urges under control, and applies her unique mindset to understanding, finding and rehabilitating individuals like herself.

[[WMG: Vogel is a genderflipped parallel universe version of Hannibal Lecter.Both are from Germany (or at least Vogel has a German name, the German word "Vogel" means bird). Both are therapists with a special interest in the criminally insane, who use unorthodox methods. And apparently, both like to manipulate people.

  • She also likes to cook.

Cassie is Hannah.
She's had reconstructive surgery and returned for Dexter (as his lover or his killer).

Deb is the Brain Surgeon.
So I've seen barely any of Season 8 and I imagine this is impossible. Just think it'd be funny.

Cassie's killer is Jamie.
Someone framed Zach. The only one who personally benefits from that is Quinn — he's been the one insisting (correctly) that the kid is a killer. But framing Zach doesn't fit with Quinn's other actions, such as bringing in Oliver to see if he recognized Zach's picture. It also contradicts the forensic evidence that Cassie knew her attacker (she'd met Quinn, but only briefly). So Quinn didn't do it... but maybe someone else did it for his sake.

Who wants Quinn to succeed? Who did Cassie definitely know? Who works next door, but was conveniently absent and thus not a witness? Who might even have been annoyed with Cassie for (apparently) not being interested in her wonderful but lonesome boss? Jamie. She's never seemed evil before, but psychopaths aren't supposed to; this is the kind of twist the writers would surely love.

On the other hand...

Cassie's killer is Deb.

This is more of a stretch, but think about it. Deb has seen twice that she can get away with murder; Vogel's even helping her suppress her guilt. Right now she's going crazy over Dex and Hannah. It's heavily implied that she's still hung up on him. If she's going to lash out, why not at another love interest of his?

Deb is someone else Cassie knew, though they'd only met once. What's more, Deb knew Cassie really was attracted to Dexter, and she didn't seem thrilled about it. Finally, like Jamie, Deb wants to see Quinn succeed. If she was going to kill someone anyway, why not finger Zach for the crime to help Quinn out? (More details here.)

Vogel is the Brain Surgeon.
  • Apparently Jossed: It's her son.

This has been the fantasy of a lonely lumberjack

The ending didn't show Dexter's life after he faked his death. Instead, it showed us the reality - The entire series has been the fantasy of a lumberjack who doesn't have anyone he can connect to... He should write a book or something.

Been thinking about this more, and it makes even more sense if you think about the very last scene. This is one of the only times Dexter doesn't monologue, so it could be interpreted as the story no longer being 'narrated'.

This is the only way the last couple seasons make sense. He had such a good story going in his head until he could not figure out how it should end and it all fell apart.

Joey Quinn, Vince Masuka, Jamie Batista, Thomas Matthews, and everyone else not seen at the end perished during Hurricane Laura.

Why else weren't they seen in the background after it ended?

Lila is a vampire.
  • A gross English titty vampire.

Dexter is in the same universe as Don't Trust The B—— in Apartment 23.
Rudy's apartment is later inhabited by Chloe.
  • Jossed unless the apartment could have been moved from Miami to New York City.

The Ice Truck murders are related to the 23 enigma.
  • Rudy lives in apartment number 23.

Dexter is a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
Here are a few versions of my theory:

1. Dexter Morgan's initials are DM. He is actually a D&D player who has no friends and has to act as the Dungeon Master in addition to playing the game himself.

2. Deb Morgan is the Dungeon Master, with Dexter being a player's serial killer character trying to survive and keep his identity a secret from other players or NPCs.

3. The whole show is Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory overseeing a game of Monsters and Mazes.

4. Same as #3, but with Dee Dee as the one in charge and Dexter as one of the players.

Dexter is in the same universe as Saw.
In the season 2 episode "Waiting to Exhale," Dexter says, "I feel like a Jigsaw puzzle missing a piece." That episode took place in early 2007, so it is possible that Dexter might have been tested by Jigsaw's apprentice Hoffman while he was on the run during Saw 3D. Dexter survived the game, but not without Hoffman cutting a puzzle piece out of Dexter's skin. Though Dexter still continued to kill, he was not tested again because Hoffman was locked away forever.

Dexter is an alternate universe's version of Batman.

  • Dexter is an analog of Bruce Wayne / Batman since his parents died and he is a vigilante who avenges people.
  • Dexter's biological parents are analogs of Martha and Thomas Wayne.
  • Officer Harry Morgan is an analog of James Gordon.
  • Deb is an analog of Barbara Gordon / Batgirl.
  • Angel Bautista is an analog of Alfred Pennyworth since he is Dexter's best friend.
  • James Doakes is an analog of Henri Ducard since he is an aggressive cop.
  • Brian Moser the Ice Truck Killer is an analog of Mr. Freeze.
  • Miguel Prado is an analog of Harvey Dent / Two-Face because he was trying to run for district attorney and was a best friend of the main character.
  • Wendell Owens is an analog of Jason Todd because he was killed as a teen.
  • Cody is an analog of Tim Drake because he treats Dexter like a father.
  • Little Chino is an analog of Bane because of their physiques.
  • Nathan Marten is an analog of Jervis Tetch / Mad Hatter because he is a pedophile.
  • Hannah McKay is an analog of Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley / Poison Ivy because she uses flowers to kill people.
  • Oliver Saxon / Daniel Vogel is an analog of The Joker because he represents what the protagonist could have been but is not. He also smiles a lot and killed Dexter's protégé.
  • Zach Hamilton is Jason Todd because both were protégé's killed by the protagonist's nemesis.

The patient who kept repeating, "She knows," had met Lila.
After Dexter had coffee with Lila and had a conversation about the "Dark Passenger," Dexter's narrating voice said, "She knows." The man in the hospital must have had some traumatic experience after meeting Lila.

Frank Lundy is a god.
Deb was right.

Dexter would have turned out worse if his mother had not been murdered.
He would have grown bored with his normal life and killed anyone willy-nilly without any code to limit himself.

Dexter is an alternate universe's version of Series/Psych.
  • Dexter is an analog of Shawn Spencer because he learned from his father.
  • Harry Morgan is an analog of Henry Spencer, Shawn's father.
  • James Doakes is a version of Burton Guster who hates the main character.

Dexter was inspired by The Boondock Saints.
He heard about how they only killed bad people and decided to do the same through his own methods.

Dexter is in the same universe as Pulp Fiction.
Dexter has speculated that his luck may be due to "divine intervention."

The drawing of Jesus was a form of divine intervention.
The boy who was in the trunk really did see Dexter and drew him perfectly, but divine intervention changed the drawing to look like Jesus so that Dexter could keep avenging people.

Dexter is a spinoff of The Truman Show.
That is why Dexter is so lucky. It is the writers who keep him from getting caught to keep the show going.

Vince Masuka is a cannibal.
He once said, "There are more cannibals in Miami than you realize." What they did not realize was that he was included.

Albert Chung is Vince Masuka's long-lost twin.
It is no coincidence that they look alike. Vince's twin brother was separated from him at birth and grew up to become Lisa Morton's murderer.

Dexter's Dark Passenger has another name...
And that name is Simon.

Jordan Chase and Vince Masuka are Sherlock Holmes.
Johnny Lee Miller, who portrayed Jordan Chase, portrays Sherlock Holmes in Series/Elementary. When Jordan died at the end of season 5, Sherlock Holmes' soul went into Vince Masuka's body, hence why Deb calls him "Sherlock" in the first episode of season 6.

Miguel Prado was trying to have an affair with Dexter.
The real reason that he said that he would fuck Dexter in ways that he could not imagine: he was upset that Dexter stopped letting him get close to him. He was sexually frustrated and fixated on Dexter.

Dexter is an alternate universe's version of House.
  • As the protagonist who lacks good social skills, Dexter is an analog of House.
  • Lumen Pierce is an analog of Thirteen since she was the thirteenth victim of the Girl Barrel Gang.

Travis Marshall is an alternate universe's version of Norman Bates.
He imagines that someone else who disapproves of promiscuous women is committing his murders.

Angel Batista is Dexter's guardian angel.
There have been times in which he has helped Dexter.

Dexter really did die in the hurricane.
He is his own personal Hell. And if Angel really is his guardian angel, then that is why he is not with Dexter.

Harry is a Time Lord.
Dexter is not hallucinating Harry; Harry is time traveling to the future to see how Dexter will turn out. After his travels, he knows that he has to kill himself because not doing so would alter the timeline.

Dexter is a [1] Time Lord.
He uses his own sonic screwdriver to unlock doors and break into houses. Also, since there might be a spinoff somehow different from Dexter but still including Michael C. Hall, perhaps a Dexter Who spinoff is not out of the question?

Harrison was trying to get Hannah all to himself.
He somehow found out where Dexter held Oliver Saxon captive in the penultimate episode and left a clue that led Max Clayton there. Harrison knew that Clayton would free Saxon, who would then kill Deb and cause Dexter to make the decision to either kill himself or live in isolation while Harrison goes off to live with Hannah. In the end, Dexter's final boss was his own son.

Angel Batista becomes Sal Maroni from Gotham.
The apparent fate of Dexter Morgan made him lose hope in the justice system, so he became a mobster in Gotham City.

In the novel Dexter Is Dead, Brian will take Dexter's place to fake his death.
Brian is said to look similar to Dexter. He will either volunteer or be forced to pose as Dexter and possibly face the electric chair in his stead because brotherly love and Dexter has a daughter.

The ending resulted from a Writer Revolt
It's already established that Executive Meddling resulted in the ending we saw, but said ending was pretty obviously tacked on. Everything was leading up to Dexter's death, and then suddenly the series departs from realism (its own standard of realism) and the rest is history.

Harrison's future after the events of the show.
Since Dexter is believed to be dead, after a while, Hannah decides to take Harrison back to Florida and leaves him with his grandparents and siblings on Paul's side of the family, her fear of making Harrison like her and his father being the reason. Despite his circumstances being similar to Dexter when it comes to being found in his mother's blood, Harrison doesn't become a serial killer (but will be struggling with his nature much like Dexter, but will be able to control his Dark Passenger without ever having to take a life). He becomes a FBI agent, becoming a member of the Behavioral Science Unit and tracking down serial killers and criminals.

The ending is Dexter finally following Brother Sam's advice.
Everyone thinks it's odd that Dexter faked his death, abandoning everything he's ever known to become a lumberjack. In Season 6, Episode 6, Brother Sam tells Dexter that he has to let go of his darkness in order for him to find peace in life, and that "if (Dexter) doesn't let go of the darkness, the darkness won't let go of (Dexter)." Dexter couldn't let go of his darkness, even after trying to follow his advice to forgive Nick, and killed him. Him being unable to let go lead him to continue on the path of holding on to the darkness and it holding onto him. This lead Dexter down the path of darkness, which lead to the events of Season 7 and 8. After Debra became brain dead, Dexter eventually realized that his Dark Passenger lead to this point. Him taking Debra off of life support and then faking his death was him finally letting go of his darkness. This leads to his life as a lumberjack, him living a solitary life, is him embracing the light inside of him, living in peace.

Debra will become a new voice that Dexter follows in the upcoming limited series.
Though it may be possible Harry may come back to continue to be Dexter's voice of reason (though Dexter said his goodbye to him in Season 8), Debra may now become the voice of reason or, maybe the voice of his Dark Passenger in his head.
  • It's confirmed by the creators. Debra will be replacing Harry's role as the voice of reason in the limited series. James Remar confirmed he is not returning as Harry.

Everyone will find out about Dexter being secretly a serial killer.
And, maybe, based on this, we'll see reactions from all around the list of characters including the cast of the original show.

Dexter will end up getting an Agonizing Stomach Wound, similar to Debra's and his fate will remain unknown a la Black Swan
Dexter will either get shot or stabbed in the stomach, on the same spot where Debra was shot and it killed her. Possibly Dexter will get the same fatal injury, which will cause Harrison and Angela scramble to save him as he bleeds out. Unlike the original series which ended with him in a blank state looking into the camera, the last scene will be Dexter looking up at the stars and smiling as he bleeds to death from his wound, knowing that Harrison and Angela are safe. Though it will be heartbreaking for the two of them as Harrison was ready to give his father a second chance at redemption and make peace with him and Angela still possibly doesn't know who Dexter/Jim really is and why was he viciously attacked like this which caused him to die in her arms.

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