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Residents
Angela Bishop
Played by: Julia Jones
Chief of the Iron Lake police and Dexter's girlfriend.- Da Chief: Angela is the chief of the Iron Lake Police Department… which in a small town consists of herself, a secretary, and two other officers.
- Expy: A tall, attractive cop who is also really good at her job and has a bit of a foul mouth. She is essentially a kinder Deb. Ultimately subverted when she is a thorough professional and arrests Dexter after finding out he is a serial killer.
- Fair Cop: She’s the stunning chief of police.
- Hero Antagonist: After she finds out who "Jim" really is, she starts digging further and even uncovers that he is the Bay Harbor Butcher.
- Hypocrite: Angela will only act as the sheriff if she personally feels that the culprit is deserving of her punishment. Demonstrated aptly in the fact that she pursued Dexter relentlessly for a hunch, but let Harrison go after witnessing him kill Dexter, just because she hated Dexter. She also gave up rather quickly on the Runaway Killer case despite all the evidence pointing to Kurt, but went the extra mile when it came to Dexter, despite a lot of the evidence being circumstantial, and his crimes bring nowhere near as bad as Kurt’s.
- Nice Girl: She's a kind, warm-hearted woman in general, who's committed to finding out what became of the runaway young women when no one else in law enforcement pays much attention.
- Understanding Girlfriend:
- At first annoyed that Dexter had a son he never mentioned, Angela quickly comes around and offers advice to him. Dexter actually believed she was going to break up with him.
- She is pissed off when she finds out "Jim" is actually Dexter but is more reasonable than expected. All the reasonable attitude understandably goes out of the window when she finds out Dexter is a serial killer.
Audrey Bishop
Played by: Johnny Sequoyah
Angela’s adopted daughter.- Child of Two Worlds: Audrey tells Harrison that due to having a birth mother who was White and her dad partly Seneca, she never felt fully part of either community.
- Happily Adopted: Audrey was adopted by Angela when her birth mother abandoned her. She's a loving, dedicated mother to her, and Audrey seems happy with her life (at least insofar as any teen is). Though they butt heads, she still very much considers Angela her real mom and loves her as such.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She acts a little bratty sometimes, but genuinely loves and considers Angela to be her actual mother and saves Harrison's life after he overdoses on fentanyl.
Matt Caldwell
Kurt Caldwell’s stock broker son.
- Asshole Victim: He’s obnoxious enough for Dexter to kill for the first time in a decade.
- Foil: To Harrison. They are both the son of a serial killer (or in Harrison’s case, two), have a Never My Fault attitude because of their bad childhoods, and are willing to lie to get away with doing bad things. Matt is basically what Harrison will become if he stays on his dark path.
- Faux Affably Evil: Acts superficially friendly to Dexter at the gun shop and dance hall, even inviting him to a party he's throwing, but it's clearly just because he wants Dexter to bend the rules for him regarding the red flag in his background check. The camera lingers on him when he plasters a smile on his face to mask annoyance.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Tries to blame his callous actions on his mom's early death and his dad's neglect when he's on Dexter's chopping block. Naturally, Dexter calls him out on this.Dexter: Are you seriously blaming bad parenting?
- Jerkass: He’s abrasive, condescending, entitled, and cruel. He’s so dickish that he purposely cuckolds his best friend on a regular basis, indirectly leading to his demise.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Kurt bemoans the fact that Matt acts more like a teenager than an adult despite being in his early 30s. He caused the deaths of five people by recklessly crashing his boat into another one, for which he feels no remorse.
- The Sociopath: Matt shows signs of being one in the episode he’s featured in. He shows no remorse for his crimes, an extreme sense of entitlement, impulsiveness, and lack of empathy. He’s also completely careless with his guns, and shows a constant need for stimulation.
Kurt Caldwell
Played by: Clancy Brown
Matt's father and a very influential figure in Iron Lake.- Abusive Parents: Kurt's father was a horrible Domestic Abuser who would beat up female hitchhikers or runaways after Kurt's mother left him. Kurt lived in constant fear that his father would turn his anger on him.
- Asshole Victim: Dexter kills him in Episode 9 of New Blood. Kurt also earns the dubious honor of being the first kill that Dexter did in front of his son, Harrison.
- Big Bad: The main villain of Dexter New Blood as the masked Serial Killer who's hunting young women, which forms the main mystery of the season.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He’s presented as a polite and likable person who’s just looking for his son. But then it’s revealed that he’s a serial killer who likes to trap runaway single women and then release them only to snipe them while they are running away.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He truly seems to love his son Matt. When he discovers that Dexter killed him, he tries to position himself as a mentor figure to Harrison, just for the satisfaction of later killing Dexter's own son in front of him.
- Evil Counterpart: Well, more evil counterpart to Dexter. Both are single fathers who grew up in traumatic circumstances, love their sons, and were widowed when their wives died young. Both are also serial killers who hide behind apparently affable, friendly faces while being extremely brutal. Invoked when he tries to position himself as a mentor for Harrison.
- Freudian Excuse: His father was a violent man, and at least once Kurt witnessed him savagely beating a prostitute in the back of his truck as a young child. This appears to be the only element of Kurt's story that isn't completely made up.
- Kick the Dog: In Episode 9, he taunts Harrison with a hand-gun gesture, maybe half a day after he attempted to shoot him in front of Dexter.
- Leitmotif: Dell Shannon's "Runaway", which he puts on in the bar and dances to once he finds a girl he can hunt and kill.
- Motive Rant: When he's finally on Dexter's table, he goes on a rant explaining that he murdered runaway girls for their own good, to "protect them". Dexter immediately calls bullshit on this, stating that Kurt simply enjoyed the power he had over his victims.
- Murderers Are Rapists: Subverted. One of his victims, Chloe, mistakenly assumes him to be a rapist. This is a fair assumption to make, since he primarily targets healthy young women and initially locks them up in a Gilded Cage with a comfortable bed and a jaccuzi. However, Kurt is disgusted when Chloe offers herself to him as part of a ploy to escape the room she's kept in. Whether this is an aversion to sex in general or just his OCD when it comes to the kill ritual is left ambiguous. He fathered a son several decades ago, but has no significant other in the present.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: The Runaway Killer, aka Kurt Caldwell, is modeled after Robert Hansen
. Both are serial killers who abduct women and take them to icy secluded locations where they hunt them as a sport. A key difference is Hansen would also rape his victims while Kurt seems to despise any whiff of sexuality in his kill ritual. - Psychopathic Manchild: When his killing ritual goes wrong, Kurt doesn't handle it well, whining his death victim "ruined everything" and even crying while punching his own head. He continues to whine and break down over it after.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He believes so, as he's furious when one of his victims assumes he's going to rape her, throwing a tantrum and becoming violent with her.
- Sadist: While he carefully avoids physically torturing his female victims, he enjoys watching their mental anguish and terror. In an interesting contrast, he does like physically torturing his only intended male victim, Harrison, in the batting cage.
- Sanity Slippage: He completely loses it when Chloe does not let him finish his kill ritual properly. After a couple of potential victims slip out of his hands, he is barely keeping it together with a permanent scowl of rage on his face. However, episode 7 shows why he has managed to evade the authorities for so long when he effortlessly makes up a story and gets off scot-free despite there being DNA evidence against him.
- Serial Killer: Kurt is the Runaway Killer, having been active for a long time. He's the one who murdered Angela's friend Iris and many, many other young women besides.
- The Sociopath: Even though Kurt claims that he was “saving” his victims, it’s clear that he simply enjoyed the power he had over them. He doesn’t even give a crap about his son, despite using Matt’s death as a reason to murder Dexter and Harrison.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Kurt is a well respected and beloved businessman in the town who is also secretly a deranged Serial Killer.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Chloe, a girl he has kidnapped, starts to take her clothes off since she assumes he plans to rape her, he gets very angry and shuts the video camera footage in disgust. He also throws a massive fit after she charges him and he shoots her in panic, implying a form of OCD with his kill ritual.Kurt: No, no. This is not the way it's supposed to happen. No!
- Villainous Parental Instinct: As horrible as he is, he really loves his son Matt, and continues to hunt down Matt's killer even though it endangers his life, killing, and eventually gets him killed.
- Walking Spoiler: It's not really possible to discuss his role without the reveal that he's a prolific serial killer.
Sergeant Logan
Played by: Alano Miller
Angela's deputy.
- A Father to His Men: He is a wrestling coach at the high school and cares deeply about the kids he teaches to the point that when Harrison overdoses on fentanyl, he is pissed and even successfully hunts down the drug dealers.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Out of everyone at the police station, Logan is the most willing to defend Matt when people question his actions. He genuinely believes that Matt is a “good guy”, despite all the evidence to the contrary. He also doesn’t see that his wrestling team is full of obnoxious bullies. Or that Dexter has ulterior motives for various interactions with him.
- Neck Snap: How Dexter kills him while Logan was going for his gun. Notable for this being Dexter's first completely intentional murder of an unambiguously good and nice person.
- Nice Guy: Friendly, polite, and genuinely concerned for others.
Edward Olsen
Played by: Fredric Lehne
A local billionaire and oil magnate.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents a friendly face, but is a ruthless businessman who couldn't care less about others. His Pet the Dog moments are clearly PR moves.
- Hate Sink: He has next to no bearing on the plot, simply existing to be a Corrupt Corporate Executive who can be despised (and a Red Herring to the identity of the Runaway Killer). His only contribution is lending his personal helicopter to contribute to the search for Matt.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He may be responsible for polluting the environment, but he is correct in pointing out that Audrey, his most vocal opponent, would not be willing to give up on her personal luxuries (such as driving a car) to help solve it.
- Red Herring: Appears to be a suspect for the white-masked killer. Once Kurt is revealed to be so, he essentially disappears from the plot.
Tess Silvera
Played by: Gizel Jimenez
A teacher at Iron Lake High School and also the bartender.
- Nice Girl: She seems to be the friendliest person in this quaint town.
- Out of Focus: Shows up a few times, but isn't really a major character and has little impact on the plot.
Visitors
Molly Park
Played by: Jamie Chung
A True Crime journalist who runs her own podcast, Merry Fucking Kill.
- Bad Influencer: A variety. She's a podcaster who is rude, dismissive about her cases, cruel about the innocent victims involved, and kind of an idiot.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Her obsession with serial killers led to her getting murdered by one.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Dexter saves Molly from Kurt and takes her to safety, but then he apparently tracked her down and murdered her in between anyway.
- Gonzo Journalism: A journalist ("podcaster", as she would prefer) who joins the Iron Lake murder investigation in real time. On top of that, she's very personal and informal in her podcasts.
- Immoral Journalist: Molly is an unlikeable, abrasive, and pretty incompetent podcaster, who constantly insults people on her shows and then tries to reach out to the same people, and is very callous and flippant about her career.
- Informed Ability: The fact that Merry Fucking Kill is “the most popular true crime podcast” is really hard to believe. Not only does she treat the cases without a shred of sensitivity, there’s also very little analysis, making her podcasts just summaries of the crimes with a lot of cursing. And despite acting like a private detective, she’s Genre Blind enough to follow Kurt to his secluded cabin, nearly dying if it wasn’t for Dexter.
- Insistent Terminology: When Angela calls her a reporter, she insists on being referred to as a "podcaster".
- Irony: She is looking for serial killers via her podcast, but is unaware that she in a hallway with Dexter and Kurt, two prolific serial killers.
- Jerkass: Molly is incredibly callous towards the victims and family members in the murder cases she researches. In the one regarding Trinity, after telling her audience that Harrison must be pretty screwed up after watching his mother die, she then nonchalantly asks him to get in touch with her for a follow-up story.
- Killed Offscreen: Dexter rescues her from Kurt Caldwell, but in episode 9, her corpse is found among his "trophies", revealing that he later tracked her down and murdered her anyway.
- Too Dumb to Live: She investigates serial killers for her podcast, but she's stupid enough to follow Kurt to his secluded cabin without telling anyone. If not for Dexter's intervention, Kurt would have killed her right there and then.
Chloe
Played by: Skyler Wright
A runaway girl who Kurt ends up helping find some work in Iron Lake.- Do Not Go Gentle: She absolutely refuses to die the way Kurt wants, much to his frustration. After trying multiple ways to escape, she refuses to run so that Kurt can shoot her in the back, and charges him instead.
- Fan Disservice: Her face after being shot counts as one. Also applies to her stripping scene since Kurt is made very uncomfortable, and since the viewers know she's doing it to try and appease him since she assumes he's preying on her, showing off her large breasts ends up being pretty uncomfortable for them too.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Averted — viewers are given a clear view of her after she's shot, to make Kurt's terror even more apparent.
- Hidden Buxom: Since the town is cold and she doesn't have a consistent place to stay, she dressed practically with a sweater and a bulky jacket over it. Once she's alone in Kurt's cabin and takes the jacket off, it's shown that her chest is big enough for her sweater to cling to it. Confirmed when she begins stripping in front of the camera — she's shown to be very busty both with and without her bra.
- Ms. Fanservice: Deliberately attempts to be this for Kurt when it seems like he's a threat to her. She quickly pulls her hair away from her chest and removes her sweater and bra in a way that looks like she's giving a striptease while beckoning Kurt, not knowing he is actually not interested in her. The fact she immediately tries to emphasize her big boobs makes it obvious she knows how to attract attention with her body when she needs to, and that she knows she has the physical assets to get it.
- Proud Beauty: At the very least, she appears well-aware of how physically attractive she is, since she puffs out her chest and immediately strips off her shirt and bra when trying to entice Kurt, showing she knows her large chest would be appealing to some.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: When Chloe notices a camera in her room, she assumes Kurt is interested in her and reluctantly strips down and shows off her boobs to try and entice him so she can have some control over the situation. Even though she is clearly well-aware of how her body might be attractive, she's still also clearly not happy about having to go that route in that situation.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Her character is what introduces viewers to Kurt's runaway killing and shows the perspective of his victims. Her efforts to entice him and escape also show the ritual isn't sexual for him, and that he is bizarrely unhinged about preserving their appearances.
- Sex for Services: When Kurt takes her to the cabin, she asks him what he wants in exchange for all his largesse, clearly suspecting that she'll have to sleep with Kurt for the lodging. Unfortunately, his intentions are far more sinister than a simple quid pro quo, as he intends to murder her.
- Too Dumb to Live: Played with. She's down on her luck and without a place to stay, so she's not in a great position to turn down Kurt's help. But being brought to a cabin in the middle of nowhere still doesn't initially weird her out. Even when he tells her to run, she ends up rushing Kurt with no plan, which ends up getting her killed. She also doesn't really make the best use of her chance to jump Kurt when he enters the room, though to be fair, she had to improvise and was under a lot of stress.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Is given enough focus for viewers to assume she'll be around for much of the season. Instead, she is killed off after just a few episodes.
