Bad Guys Gone Good: Our Favorite TV Villains Who Turned Over a New Leaf

Photo: Christian Weber/Showtime.

Dexter Morgan – Dexter

By the strictest definition, Dexter was a really bad guy. Murder goes a long way to saddle you with that label. However, Dexter didn’t just kill for the sake of it, he followed a strict code. He could only kill other bad guys on which he had substantial proof and he could never get caught.

Despite the countless murders and homicides, Dexter was mostly a good guy. He was a loving family man and a protective brother — even though those things sometimes got mixed up with him. He was dedicated to ridding the city of evil, and he wanted to do right by the people he loved the most.

It’s hard to reconcile his penchant for horrific violence with the man he was with Rita and Debra. He spent most of the series grappling with his own values, but he could never escape his tendencies. He had to sacrifice a lot to make peace with his inner demons.

After everything was said and done, Dexter had to fake his own death to escape his life. This shows how far he was willing to do the right thing. Saying goodbye to Debra — in every way possible — was the most Dexter thing he could have done, and this makes him more of a hero than an antihero.