Dexter Has Actually Killed An Alarming Amount Of People

Showtime's "Dexter" is at the forefront of pop culture right now, with the series finally returning for a limited series reboot, titled "Dexter: New Blood." 

The original "Dexter" — based on a novel by Jeff Lindsay and developed for TV by James Manos Jr. — ran for eight seasons between 2006 and 2013. The series followed Dexter Morgan, played by Michael C. Hall, a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department by day and a tactical serial killer by night. Dexter, aware that his sociopathic tendencies are immoral, doesn't kill just anyone — instead, Dexter works by a "code" laid out by his father Harry (James Remar) before he died, and he only kills people who are proven to have killed others. 

Essentially, he is a serial killer of serial killers. And based on the premise alone, it's clear that "Dexter" is a pretty graphic show. After all, viewers see Dexter take someone's life in just about every episode. 

But just how many people does Dexter kill over the course of the original series, anyway? The total number is actually pretty alarming.

Satisfying curious TV viewers everywhere, the dedicated fans at the Dexter Wiki have laid out Dexter's entire kill list, and calculated just how many deaths he's responsible for. Looking at Dexter's direct kills, the number lands at 138 people. Some of these kills include some of the most memorable of the show, such as Dexter's biological brother Brian Moser (Christian Camargo), his short-lived kill partner Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) and the Trinity Killer aka Arthur Miller (John Lithgow). This number could potentially be higher, as it's unclear how many people he killed in between Seasons 7 and 8 — the site estimates five, but does not include those in the final count. 

Further, the 138 number only includes people that Dexter intentionally and directly killed himself — the number gets higher looking at the deaths that Dexter indirectly caused. A notable example is Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King), Dexter's colleague at Miami Metro, who was killed by Dexter's lover Lila West (Jaime Murray) to keep Doakes from revealing Dexter as a killer. Naturally, Lila then becomes a victim of Dexter herself. Additionally, there's the tragic — and shocking — death of Dexter's wife Rita (Julie Benz), who dies at the hands of the Trinity Killer as an act of revenge against Dexter.

Dexter's total number of kills will almost surely go up in upcoming episodes of "Dexter: New Blood" ... but just how much remains to be seen.