The best fictional TV serial killers might have different personality types, but all have one thing in common: they are incredibly captivating and mesmerizing to watch. They all balance their nightly activities with their seemingly normal daily lives. Many of them brazenly work in jobs where they actually help people, whether it's law enforcement, medicine, or even volunteering.
They all portray a carefully contrived image to the world as a "normal" person who blends in, taking on an average job and raising an average family in the suburbs. On the surface, they seem completely harmless, or even actually quite charming. And yet, it's all a façade and they pull it off wonderfully. But deep down, there's a terrifying darkness that makes them characters fans would never wish to be real.
Dexter Morgan (Dexter)
When thinking of "TV show serial killer," Dexter Morgan from Dexter comes to many minds as the most compelling and multi-layered serial killer character ever on television. Dexter is easily the deadliest TV serial killer, as well. While he goes about his daily life as a forensic scientist for the Miami Police Department, trying to act normal, he is also conducting research for his night job as a vigilante serial killer.
What makes Dexter so interesting to watch is that fans get to hear his inner dialogue as a voiceover throughout the show. His work, only killing those he can confirm are guilty of committing heinous crimes, also puts fans in a difficult position, wanting to root for Dexter while also being disgusted by what he does.
Joe Goldberg (YOU)
Joe Goldberg is often compared to Dexter. In the series YOU, he's a serial killer who also allows viewers to hear his inner monologue. But what makes Joe so compelling is that he often talks to himself to rationalize his brutal actions, as though he's trying to convince himself that they are justified.
"If only she had done that, I wouldn't have had to do that." These are the kinds of discussions Joe has with himself in his own head (that fans get to eavesdrop on). Hearing the way Joe can twist facts while he does terrifying things like keep people in a cage and cold-bloodedly murder them is fascinating, albeit horrifying.
Paul Spector (The Fall)
While fictional, the character of Paul Spector was reportedly inspired by real-life serial killer, Dennis Rader, otherwise known as the BTK killer, according to Paste Magazine. Like Rader, Spector appeared to be just an average guy on the surface, with a job, a wife, and children.
But Spector was actually a very disturbed man who would kidnap, torture, and pose women, ironically all while working as a grief counselor by day.
Martin Whitly (Prodigal Son)
For decades, Martin Whitly on Prodigal Son was not only a sinister serial killer but also an upstanding citizen, a wealthy heart surgeon and pillar of his community. He kept his Hippocratic Oath and never purposely killed anyone on the operating table. There was no thrill in that, after all.
But what makes Martin so compelling is that the series focuses on his actions after being institutionalized for years. The ways he continues to manipulate his troubled and traumatized now-grown son, while Malcolm tries desperately to cut ties yet can't seem to, make fans both cringe and sympathize with both characters.
Norman Bates (Bates Motel)
One of the most iconic fictional serial killers is Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, who, to this day, remains the best Hitchcock villain. The interpretation of the character in Bates Motel is an interesting angle that shows his early life with his mother, running a motel together.
It's an interesting story of a devoted mother trying to protect both her son and others from him, as his mental state worsens. It's the first depiction of a younger Bates before the events of the film take place.
Joe Carroll (The Following)
What makes Carroll so menacing is the fact that he is so highly educated, cultured, charming, and well-spoken. Anyone who meets him can't help but become enamored with him, which is also why he is able to acquire his own legion of followers from around the world.
He is so powerful and convincing, in fact, that Carroll manages to convince his cult members to do his dirty work for him, even when he is in prison. Even former FBI agent Ryan becomes so obsessed with capturing Carroll that, despite his hatred for the man and all the heinous things he did, begins to develop an emotional connection to the killer.
Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)
There have been so many interpretations of this iconic character, including the movie Silence of the Lambs, ranked the best serial killer movie from the '90s. And the version of the character in Hannibal is one of the most compelling. He is another brutal killer masquerading as someone who likes to help others, working as a psychiatrist by day then killing and consuming his victims by night.
While Hannibal dutifully helps Will Graham, an FBI profiler, get into the head of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill, Graham has no idea he's sitting right across from one even more menacing and evil than the person he's hunting. Lecter finds himself in the perfect position to stay one step ahead by manipulating the FBI, but while he hopes to tap into Graham's own dark desires, he begins to befriend the man, which proves to complicate. It's a brilliant story on the darkness that lies within.
El Cuco (The Outsider)
Based on folklore, this character was responsible for the deaths of many in The Outsider, the HBO miniseries based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.
What makes El Cuco so terrifying, aside from the fact that the non-human entity kills children, is that it can take on the form of a person, making it look like that person committed a crime. The entity can also take over a person's mind and force them to do murderous, horrible things to others or even themselves.
The Trinity Killer (Dexter)
A second killer from Dexter beyond the title character is worthy of this list. The Trinity Killer not only proved to be a formidable challenger, and the most villainous serial killer on Dexter, he was also responsible for one of the most heart-wrenching scenes and deaths on the show.
The role was captivating and disturbing as fans watched Arthur Mitchell aka The Trinity Killer travel from state to state, killing women while pretending that he was helping building homes and doing good for the communities he visited. He killed hundreds through his multi-decade career, meticulously performing the ritual the same way every year.
Ghostface (Scream)
Scream is an MTV/VH1 TV series based on the same premise as the original movie franchise in which a mysterious character terrorizes and kills people in a town while wearing a creepy mask.
Known as Ghostface, the killer in the series has a connection to a young woman named Emma and her family and horrifying events from the town's past. For those who are into the traditional horror genre and killers who wear actual masks versus metaphorical ones, Ghostface is one of the most recognizable in the genre.