Dexter

Series Similar to Dexter

If you enjoyed Dexter, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. Veronica Mars

   2004 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime / Mystery profile, highly rated (8.5).

   In the wealthy, seaside community of Neptune, the rich and powerful make the rules. They own the town and are desperately trying to keep their dirty little secrets just that... secret. Unfortunately for them, there's Veronica Mars, a smart, fearless private investigator dedicated to solving the town's toughest mysteries. During the day, Veronica studies hard, but by night, she helps her father Keith with his private investigator business, sneaking through back alleys and scoping out no-tell motels with a telescopic-lens camera in an attempt to uncover the California beach town's darkest secrets.

2. Bosch

   2015 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime / Mystery profile, highly rated (8.5).

   Based on Michael Connelly's best-selling novels, Harry Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past.

3. Mare of Easttown

   2021 · Drama, Crime, Mystery · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime / Mystery profile, highly rated (8).

   Mare of Easttown follows a small-town Pennsylvania detective who investigates a local murder at a time when her own life is crumbling around her.

4. Luther

   2010 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · returning

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.4).

   A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the depraved murderers he hunts.

5. The Wire

   2002 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.9).

   The first season of The Wire (2002) concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell. In Seasons Two and Three, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving pressures on the working class and the city's political leadership were introduced. Season Four focused on the stories of several young boys in the public school system, struggling with problems at home and the lure of the corner - set against the rise of a new drug empire in West Baltimore and a new Mayor in City Hall. The fifth and final season of The Wire centers on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

6. Boardwalk Empire

   2010 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.4).

   As the country struggles to cope with the Great Depression and the end of Prohibition looms, Nucky Thompson looks to legitimize himself through alliances with liquor producers, while rivals Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky seek to consolidate their power in the wake of Arnold Rothstein's death and eliminate all competition - by any means necessary on Boardwalk Empire.

7. The Sopranos

   1999 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.9).

   The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.

8. The Shield

   2002 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.6).

   Detective Vic Mackey is the leader of an elite Strike Team unit, a group of cops effective at eliminating crime but also operating under Vic's own set of rules. But his rules sometimes cross the fine line between legal and illegal. Now the precinct has a new captain who doesn't like Vic's tactics and wants to bust him off the force - even as the captain finds himself going to Vic for help whenever the going gets rough.

9. Oz

   1997 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.7).

   HBO's violent men-behind-bars drama is an addictive, testosterone-driven soap opera for guys. The eight episodes of the first season set the style for the show: a massive cast of a vivid characters on both sides of the bars, four or five stories unleashed at a breakneck pace and framed by angry, oddball introductions, and a soaring casualty rate. Created by Homicide producer Tom Fontana, this drama quickly earned its rightful reputation as the most brutal show on TV. It's simple chemistry: combine volatile ingredients in a confined space, shut tight, and shake.

10. Breaking Bad

    2008 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (9.2).

    Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White, a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife and teenage son who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis such as White's releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.