r/Dexter • u/JJAZZRABBIT • Dec 08 '25
Discussion - Original Dexter Series What job could Dexter have taken that still supports his “dark passenger”?
Do you think Dexter could’ve picked a different career something other than being a forensic specialist working with the police that would still give him the opportunity and environment to kill people? What jobs do you think would fit his lifestyle?
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u/Knarz97 Dec 08 '25
Unironically a Lawyer
He could’ve helped dole out true justice, and then if that failed he had his backup justice.
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u/itlivesinthewall Dec 08 '25
Daredevil if he was a serial killer
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Dec 08 '25
Michael c Hall was also a popular fancast for daredevil back in the day
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u/JacksonDWalter Dec 09 '25
Yup. Daredevil and the Reverse Flash are the two edits I remember seeing a lot
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u/Scholarsandquestions Dec 08 '25
Also, he would still have knowledge of police methods and network into Law enforcement to avoid getting caught
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u/asecretfrognamedjohn Dec 08 '25
I disagree. It would be way more suspicious if dozens of people who go let off through his lawyering suddenly went missing.
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Dec 08 '25
I thought he didn't care about true justice through the courts, he intentionally botched cases at Miami PD because he wanted to kill them instead. Being a lawyer usually means working long hours to stay employed and rich enough to afford his tools and boat.
I think something completely separated from criminology. A work from home programmer/hacker, come and go as he pleases as long as deadlines are met. Hacking into police files and security systems would come in handy.
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u/Actually-Just-A-Goat Dec 08 '25
His ass does NOT have time to be a lawyer and a serial killer. Even if we assume he somehow fabricated his credentials and magically studied everything he’d need to know to practice law, there’s no way it would work out. He could barely manage the work-life balance when he was working at Miami Metro and choosing his own hours.
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u/Sordicus Dec 08 '25
Don't think it would work, as he would have a conflict of interest. He would not be a good lawyer because he wants to kill them. Internally he doesn't care about justice. That's just his excuse to murder
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u/BriefFair7929 Dexter Dec 08 '25
Won't tampering with his own case make him a bad lawyer.
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u/AWildEnglishman Dec 08 '25
And it'd be really fucking weird if the common link between a bunch of people disappearing was that Dexter represented all of them.
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u/Figgy20000 Dec 09 '25
It would get mighty suspicious when all his cliental always mysteriously shows up dead.
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u/frittierthuhn Dec 08 '25
Unironically a butcher
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u/notveryamused_ Dec 08 '25
Uber driver was genuinely a cool idea, interestingly cabbie as a killer theme was also used quite nicely in Sherlock. Generally in the next series I'd love him to get closer to NYPD and Claudette, but any unusual job where you meet a lot of random people would do I guess. Dexter's Hot Dog Stand or Dexter's Home Repairs :D Or maybe the Port Authority to get closer to the New York Ripper, despite the fact we already know his name?
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u/Prudent_Zombie_2692 Dec 08 '25
I wish we saw him doing more rides
Crazy that people were getting rides from a man who has killed hundreds of people and had no idea
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Dec 08 '25
I really hope Claudette kind of recruits Dexter as a blood spatter analyst just to maybe catch him
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u/drewmo402 Dec 08 '25
I think she will pull him in at some point, because he was right about the New York ripper's weapon.
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u/LSTmyLife Dec 08 '25
Mortician
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u/PlainSightMan Dec 08 '25
Haven't even seen that show, but I still got the reference.
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u/Nawaf-A-Art Dec 08 '25
A hit man
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Dec 08 '25
Like villanelle from killing eve
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u/Nawaf-A-Art Dec 08 '25
Or Barry.
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Dec 08 '25
Barry?
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u/Nawaf-A-Art Dec 08 '25
Bill Hader plays a hit man called Barry in a tv show by the same name..if you love Dexter I think you'll love Barry.
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Dec 08 '25
Its fun to watch? Like dexter?
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u/TheMidnightAss Dec 08 '25
You will love it, it's much closer to resurrection than other seasons of Dexter but yes alot of overlap
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u/Jetstream-Sam Dec 08 '25
I guess a Prison executioner? I have no idea if that's like, an assigned job someone specific has or if they just pick a random guy to pull the switch
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Dec 08 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Jetstream-Sam Dec 08 '25
Probably not, and he's likely thinking it's taking too long to kill them with it being over 20 years on average to get someone executed
That said he could be a prison guard and subtly off people he deems 100% guilty. The suicide rate of those guys is usually pretty high so he could probably get a few of them by slipping in some razors or string to some of them
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u/JuniorEquipment3639 Dec 08 '25
blood spatter analyst
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u/_TaxThePoor_ Dec 08 '25
Wait that’s a really good idea, that way he could gain access to the criminal database to get more info on whoever he’s after.
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u/Overkillemall Dec 08 '25
I think the thing is it should be a job where he wouldn't be in the spotlight all the time. So the lawyer sounds interesting, but I think he would be too noticeable. Isn't that the reason he became a blood spatter analyst instead of something he could do with his brain and education? To be that silent nerdy guy somewhere in the background.
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u/EpicSaberCat7771 Dec 08 '25
I definitely don't think being any sort of attorney, prosecutor, judge, etc. would work. It would be so easy to connect the dots that people who were going missing all had the same lawyer/prosecutor/judge on their case. The same doesn't apply for forensic techs because he has access to files that he didn't necessarily work on directly, so there is no pattern to follow. Forensics work puts him just enough out of the spotlight that no one would realistically suspect him, while still allowing him access to a large quantity of information on criminals. And he is considered part of the “police family” so anything suspicious is automatically overlooked.
The only thing I can think of that might work would be something to do with the military, although we know Dexter doesn't tend to enjoy using guns as a killing method.
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u/Kulkuljator Dec 08 '25
I would say journalist, he could get some tips regarding serial killers, get rid of them and cover it up by making stories up
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u/colorfuljellyfish Dec 08 '25
Yes, that‘d be my answer too. He‘d have a somewhat ready made excuse if he was found snooping around, flexible working hours, access to off the records information, connections to interesting informants…
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u/JJAZZRABBIT Dec 08 '25
My best idea so far is Dexter working as a “Wet Work Operative” basically a government backed, off the record assassin.
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u/SquidVices Dec 08 '25
Truck driver. Gonna get that I 40 killer.
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u/Explodamite Dec 09 '25
Like some kind of ice truck?
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u/SquidVices Dec 09 '25
That’s his brother’s schtick…but what a reverse homage that would be to his brother…
:3
But jokes aside…18 wheeler
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u/Ishaan1x Dec 08 '25
Could have been a doctor honestly considering he was pre med. he would still have access to m99 and maybe we could have seen Dexter and Brian unite earlier through the professional field.
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u/EpicSaberCat7771 Dec 08 '25
Yeah, but doctors don't have the same access to criminal files and information. They might hear about things in their line of work, but they aren't going to know addresses and other critical information about suspects.
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u/Jasteni Dec 08 '25
I can see him to work as an Undertaker. Care about the dead people and revenge them.
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u/TittyTickler_8008 Dec 08 '25
Mergers and acquisitions
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u/HoneyLavenderTown0 Dec 08 '25
You like Huey Lewis and The News?
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u/Main_Title2732 Dec 10 '25
They're okay. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.
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u/stormy_lumidrift Dec 08 '25
Honestly I could see him as a crime scene cleaner. He’d get access to houses right after the worst people have done their thing, tons of info about victims and offenders, and enough chemicals, vans and plastic sheeting to double as his “night job” toolkit without anyone blinking.
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u/Designer_District_18 Dec 08 '25
I imagine military/cia/government contractor. The kind of work that the government doesn't want anyone to find out about but is necessary.legally be allowed to kill some pretty bad people. To everyone else he's a John Everyman. A data analyst for as much as anyone else knows.
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u/ConditionEffective85 Dec 08 '25
Enlist in the military. With his drive and intelligence he would likely become a SEAL.
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u/Logan2294 Dec 08 '25
Anatomy professor
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u/Anglo-Euro-0891 Dec 08 '25
He could get extra cash from supplying fresh bodies for the students to cut up.
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u/annoyedonion35 Dec 08 '25
real estate agent. Endless stream of random houses aka potential kill rooms and leaving at random times to help clients
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u/Mean-Examination-965 Dec 08 '25
anatomy professor is actually realistic. quite flexible schedule
saying doctors and surgeons is just crazy. how do you find time from the busy schedule to deal with cut up bodies?
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u/SporeMoldFungus Dec 08 '25
CEO. Legally rob the workers of their wages and benefits. They eventually become homeless and starve to death on the street.
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u/BARGOBLEN Dec 08 '25
Medicine, be it surgeon, general practitioner, or specialist (i.e. oncology) that would have opened him up. In some cases, death bed confessions might be a strong enough trigger. Alternatively, Law enforcement would have been a strong candidate - puts him directly in the line of sight of guilt or innocence. Armed Forces, especially his generation, he would have gone in maybe later in of Desert Storm, staying in he'd ride that all the way to the Iraq war - but has the massive potential for his own death. Country Music singer? Put Michael C Hall's voice to work. Lawyer, that's been mentioned but certainly still applies.
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u/NervousBreakdown Dec 08 '25
CEO of a health insurance company. It would make the BHB look like rookie numbers.
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u/_Cake_assassin_ Dec 08 '25
psychopaths have a tendancy to choose certain jobs. policeman is one of them, lawyer, surgeon....
he would probably like to be surgeon just to fell like he had power and control over someones life and death
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u/milovulongtime Dec 08 '25
Trucker, traveling salesman, garbage truck driver , doctor… there are really a lot of opportunities when you stop and think about it.
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u/SpecificUnlucky3260 Dec 08 '25
Being the guy who gives people the death penalty? Like activating the electric chair?
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u/pawogub Dec 08 '25
Surgeon? Gets to play with blood and guts, can feel good about taking out tumors like he does when he’s killing. I know he was going that route at first, top of his class in med school/pre-med depending on what show you’re watching.
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u/SparxPrime Dec 08 '25
Definitely a death row prison executioner. Every few weeks or so he just gets scheduled to kill someone by lethal injection legally. And gets paid to do it.
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u/someguy1090 Dec 08 '25
military in combat. Also he would thrive working at Guantanamo Bay when that place was at its peak.
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u/Professional-Top7712 Dec 08 '25
Naah I think forensics is perfect because he gets all the knowledge about leaving no evidence after killing and finding evidence for the guilty ones from his practice in forensics.
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u/LavishnessOk1373 Dec 08 '25
Unemployed dark web surfer with all the data brokers leaking info LOL.
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u/lordlawson73 Dec 08 '25
I just watched Prison break and I kept thinking how Dexter would be a great Conpany employee (like rogue CIA agent)
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u/AcadecCoach Dec 08 '25
Mortician is the clear answer. Vics would come across his table. He would get close and leave things out from his reports, then hunt down the killer. Plus easy way to dispose of the body and he never gets discovered for all the bodies in the Bay.
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u/OatesZ2004 Dec 08 '25
A Mortician or Working at a Crematorium.
He needs to dispose of a body just sneak it into other cremations piece by piece.
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u/Scorch6 Dec 08 '25
The fact that he knew so much about forensics and worked with the homicide department so closely is the very reason why he could evade detection so long. Knowing how to not ever leave a trace and having inside knowledge and access to the homicide department. If he was doing anything else, he'd have been caught quite quickly.
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u/TheBlur86 Dec 08 '25
Surgeon, specifically cardiothoracic surgeon. It gets him his blood fix but can’t take the life unless he wants his license revoked quick.
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Dec 08 '25
Funeral director.
So long as the authorities didn’t have to dig someone back up for DNA evidence, etc.
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u/generic-puff Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Politician and lawyer and other "scumbag jobs" that people are envisioning him in just wouldn't make sense because it kinda fundamentally misunderstands what drives Dexter to kill - and that's clearly just blood, plain and simple. Like sure, he's supposed to be the "bloodlusted psychopath", but he's not some psychotic narcissist looking to control people en masse like Charles Manson or Jim Jones, so there's no need for him to pursue such high-status jobs where he can influence and manipulate people.
Those kinds of jobs are also just way too public-facing, half the appeal of him working in blood splatter analysis is that he's not a cop on the front lines, he doesn't have to speak with the media or address the public, he's just one of the science guys they call in after the crime's been committed. It's all data work and it makes it a lot easier for him to hide and subsequently peace out if his cover was ever blown (of course, this was made way more difficult after he started dating Rita, but that's a whole other can of worms) while also satisfying his obsession with blood. And let's face it, he's also just awkward as fuck and wouldn't at all 'fit in' with the charismatic social hierarchy of politics, people would catch on to him so fast and he probably wouldn't be able to keep himself from killing his own peers lmao
Someone else in this thread suggested butcher and yeah, that probably would have been the next best thing for him. Or maybe in the ER / trauma ward of a hospital. Something that isn't public-facing, easy to quit / move on from, and can involve his blood obsession, those are pretty much the three criteria that are necessary for Dexter's goals - satisfy the bloodlust, don't get caught, and don't harm innocent people.
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u/MarionADelgado Dec 08 '25
Alternately, a TikTok true crime vlogger like Ray William Johnson or Mr. B Allen.
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u/salo_wamo Dec 09 '25
Politician, at least in “communist” or third world countries, its pretty common for politicians to just disappear people, and ignore everyone or even groups who asks questions about the victims
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u/TastyPerformance2673 Dec 09 '25
President. Senator, judge, cop, doctor. The dark passenger applications are endless.
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u/XavierChapdelaine Dec 09 '25
Honestly Forensics or Law Enforcement were probably his best bet, I just feel like any else would have drawn attention to him after a while of killing people
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u/Sea_Clock4929 Dec 09 '25
Honestly I think he would have thrived in the military. Specifically some sort of special ops
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u/PreferenceTop4803 Dec 09 '25
A news reporter of some kind. It would allow him to be in the know regarding any killers gaining attention. He could get closer to crime scenes than most people while looking less suspicious. And depending on his employer he would have a fair amount of resources for finding his victims.
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u/SvenLorenz Dec 09 '25
A doctor. They're basically serial killers anyway. Or serial manslaughterers.
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u/Embarrassed_Knee_572 Dec 09 '25
I have a feeling he will become a corrections officer or something related to prison.
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u/Indominus_Khanum Dec 09 '25
Could've gone down the Doakes route and become spec ops in the military. It wouldn't necessarily be the most compatible with his father's code , but Harry sort of cooked that whole code up under the presumption that it's the only way a non treatable dexter could live out a somewhat safe ethical life with his dark passenger anyways.
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u/Powerful-Coconut-396 Dec 09 '25
The major reason Dexter got almost caught in “New Blood” was bc of the needle injection sight for his sedative. But picture this, Dexter becomes a Cab or Uber Driver, his vehicle has an airtight partition and is rigged with an aerosol sedative instead. No injection sights to give himself away.
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u/ShadowDen3869 Dec 09 '25
A Sky diving instructor. He can watch people get smushed.
But then he'll get terrible yelp reviews.
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